A Different Orientation
by Lord22
Summary: At last Sakura was a full ninja! At last she could impress her one true love! At last everything she had ever dreamed of could become reality! Now if only she wasn't on the same team as that jerk Sasuke.
1. Wrong Team

_**Preface:**_

 _Readers should be made aware that Sakura is meant to be kind of a jerk. Her observations and opinions of the characters, places, and events that take place are not necessarily a reflection of mine and are not at all reasonable. I write this because I have had several complaints about bashing Sasuke. I am not. I actually like his character. I just think he was poorly handled._

* * *

 **Chapter One: Wrong Team**

Sakura looked at herself in the mirror as she combed her hair carefully. She had to make sure her bubblegum colored hair was properly put together. Today was the day where she would be assigned her team.

Today was the day she had to be assigned with the right person. She winked at herself in the mirror with one green eye. She'd knock them dead.

'Sakura honey!' said Mom 'You'd better hurry up or you'll be late!'

'I know Mom.' said Sakura 'I'm on my way out now.'

 **'** **How long are you going to treat me like a kid?!'** roared inner Sakura. **'I'm a ninja now!'**

She didn't hurry. There was no need, she'd started out early enough. She wasn't a little academy student anymore. She was Sakura Haruno. Ninja in training.

Then she saw her.

Ino walked out of her house and looked at Sakura and smiled. Sakura instantly felt a bit flustered at her gaze and looked away The blonde girls hair was well conditioned and put in a ponytail and she looked good. She always looked much better than Sakura.

'Hey Ino.' asked Sakura.

'Hey Sakura, how's it going?' asked Ino 'Like my outfit?'

'Yeah, it's nice.' said Sakura, not looking up.

'Think Sasuke will like it?' asked Ino.

'Oh um, I'm sure he will.' said Sakura, looking up wanting to say something entirely different.

 **'** **Curse you Sasuke, I'll pay you back soon enough!'** said Inner Sakura.

The two of them began to walk to the academy together. Sakura tried to think of what to say. No, tried to think of how to say it. But the words didn't come.

'So I heard you got second best scores next to Sasuke.' said Ino 'Nice work.'

'Yeah.' said Sakura 'I mean my physical talents weren't as good as yours but… uh…'

'What's wrong?' asked Ino.

'Nothing nevermind.' said Sakura.

As soon as they got to the class Sakura saw the blonde haired prankster, Naruto looking up at her. She'd been aware of his crush for years. Generally speaking she found that if you ignored him, he went away. The real source of her eternal frustration was that black haired boy staring down at the desk.

 **'** **Look at him.'** said Inner Sakura **'With that smug "I'm so better than you." look on his face. Man I hate him.'**

'Hey Sasuke.' said Ino 'Mind if I sit next to you?'

Sakura blushed in fury.

 **'** **FUCK THIS GUY!'** roared inner Sakura.

'Hey wait a minute, I got here before you Ino.' said a girl.

'So did I.' said another.

Here they went. A veritable crowd of girls now assembled to begin fighting over who would sit next to Sasuke. It was truly pitiful. Oh look, there was Naruto getting very up close and personal with Sasuke. Did he actually think anyone took him seriously as a rival? He'd been dead last in all the tests.

Oh look all the girls were now glaring at Naruto. As if Sasuke really gave a damn about any of them. Or anyone at all really. Why were they so obsessed with him? Sasuke this, Sasuke that! What was the big deal with this jerk?

And now everyone was yelling at Naruto to stop.

And then someone bumped Naruto and he ended up locking lips with Sasuke. Hilarious. Now every girl in the room except Sakura was now outraged by Naruto having stolen Sasuke's first kiss. It wasn't as if there was going to be a second. What kind of messed up needy loser could ever stand to be in a long term relationship with that guy? It was a recipe for domestic abuse.

The number of bruises Naruto was sporting when Iruka arrived told Sakura that quite a few people were messed up needy losers. Except Ino of course, she was just misguided.

'As of today you are all ninjas.' said Iruka 'Together you faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are Gennin, first level ninjas. All the gennin will be grouped into three man squads. Each squad will be led by a Jonin, an elite ninja.'

So there would be three person groups. That meant Sakura might end up in the same group as Ino. She had to, they'd been best friends for years.

'Hey maybe we'll both end up in Sasuke's group.' said Ino.

 **'** **Kami no!'** roared Sakura **'There is no way I'm letting that Sasuke jerk anywhere near Ino!'**

'We want each squad to have a balance of sets and abilities.' said Iruka 'So that's how we set them up.' He raised his paper. 'I will now announce the squads:

'Squad 7, Naruto Uzumaki.'

Okay, okay come on.

'Sakura Haruno.'

Come on. Say Ino. Say Ino. Say Ino.

'Yeah!' said Naruto.

'I'm doomed.' said Sakura.

'And Sasuke Uchiha.' finished Iruka.

 **'** **Oh come on!'** roared Inner Sakura. ' **Why do I have to be in the same group as that brooding jerkass? Wait a minute, this is a good thing! If Sasuke's in my group that means Ino won't be in his! Yes!'**

'Yes!' said Sakura.

'How did you get in his group?!' snapped Ino.

And now Ino was jealous of her. Damn it.

'I'd switch with you if I could.' answered Sakura quickly. She was lying of course.

'What do you see in a guy like that?' asked Shikamaru 'He's not so special.'

 **'** **Finally a voice of reason!'** roared Inner Sakura.

'You are so beyond clueless Shikamaru.' said Ino. 'Don't you get it?'

'No I don't get it.' said Shikamaru 'Cause I'm not a girl.'

'You're so full of yourself.' said Ino 'Jealous is a terrible thing. I'd hate to be on your squad.'

'Now squad 10.' said Iruka 'Ino Yamanaka. Shikamaru Nara.'

'Did you say something about hating to be on my squad?' asked Shikamaru triumphantly.

'And Choji Akimichi.'

Choji said nothing. He was too busy shoving food into his mouth.

'And those are all the squads.' said Iruka.

'Iruka sensei.' said Naruto 'Why does a great ninja like me have to be in the same group as a slug like Sasuke?!'

'Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students.' said Iruke 'Naruto, you had the worst scores.' Laughter broke out throughout the class. 'To create a balanced group we put the best student with the worst student.'

'Setting yourself up for failure, aren't you?' asked Sakura.

'Just make sure you don't get in my way.' said Sasuke 'Loser.'

'Hey what did you say?!' roared Naruto.

'Hard of hearing?' asked Sasuke. More laughter.

'Shut up Sasuke.' said Sakura. 'Going after easy targets doesn't make you a badass.'

'You tell them, Sakura!' said Naruto.

 **'** **What a dork!'** said Inner Sakura **'Did he seriously just admit to being an easy target?'**

'Ahem.' said Iruka 'After lunch you'll meet your new jonin teachers. Until then class dismissed.'

* * *

After class Sakura went looking for Ino. She didn't find her. Maybe she was still mad at her for getting into the same group as Sasuke while Ino ended up with Shikamaru.

Sakura had been hoping to eat lunch together.

'Hey Sakura!' said Naruto 'Since we're in the same group together I was thinking we could eat lunch and get to know eachother.'

Didn't this kid ever stop? Kami he was annoying. But it wasn't polite to say that to someone's face. How could she get rid of him without seeming impolite? What did she know about him? He hated Sasuke. 'Tell you what, Naruto.' said Sakura 'Beat up Sasuke, tie him up and bring him to me and then we'll talk.'

'Alright!' said Naruto 'I'll show him whose boss! Cause I'm going to be a hokage! Believe it!'

'Sure, sure, have fun.' said Sakura.

As Sakura watched Naruto rush off she felt somewhat bad for sending him on a suicide mission. Still, at least this way she had some peace and quiet. She sat down on the bench and took in the beauty of her surroundings.

* * *

Ino was furious. She'd been destined to be in the same group as Sasuke. Every law of the universe and of righteousness had demanded she get in. But no, instead her best friend ended up in Sasuke's group while she ended up with Shikamaru.

No, no, she had nothing to worry about. Sakura knew what her feelings were. She wouldn't ruin their friendship over a guy.

'Alright,' said Ino 'if we're going to be in a group then I'm the leader! That's the only way it will work!'

'Yeah, yeah.' said Shikamaru.

'Why don't you lead us to some barbeque, Ino.' said Choji.

'Hopeless!' roared Ino.

Then she noticed something. Naruto creeping along the edge of a rooftop beneath the terrace. He was making his way to an open window where Sasuke was leaning with his back to him. Then Naruto jumpd him.

There were sounds of a struggle.

'Naruto!' snapped Ino 'If you so much as scratch him you're on my enemy list forever!'

No, what was she thinking. Sasuke was a prodigy from a long line of master ninja who worked constantly to get better. Naruto was a nobody. There was no way that-

Ino blinked. Did Naruto just rush through the window carrying a tied up Sasuke over his head, laughing while he did it?

'What just happened here?' asked Ino.

'Naruto just beat Sasuke without even breaking a sweat.' said Shikamaru.

This was impossible!

* * *

Sakura was left alone with her doubts.

'Well, I guess there is no real rush.' she said 'I've known Ino for years and I can still meet up with her between missions. Oh, who am I kidding? How could I even think Ino would like someone like me? I'm scrawny and small and-'

And then a tied up and gagged Sasuke was unceremoniously thrown onto the dirt. Naruto landed on top of him. 'Hey Sakura, I did just like you said. I beat up Sasuke and tied him up. So can we eat lunch together? Please?'

Sakura was not ready for today. 'Wait… you actually beat Sasuke? I mean, are you sure you didn't just catch a clone or something?'

'Well I snuck up behind him when he was least expecting it.' said Naruto 'I jumped him, but he knocked me flat. But he didn't realize that was only a clone and my other clones grabbed him and tied him up.

Does it count if I took him by surprise?'

'Well we are ninja,' said Sakura 'so yeah. Where were you thinking for lunch?'

'Well there is this really great ramen place Iruka always takes me to when I do well on a test.' said Naruto 'I could take you there, but uh… I'm kind of a bit short on cash.'

'Don't worry.' said Sakura 'This one is on me.' They turned and left Sasuke tied up in the middle of the street for anyone to find. 'So where did you learn to create clones anyway?'

'Well see I was trying to pass my exams, but Iruka failed me because I wasn't good enough.' said Naruto 'So I got really sad, but Mizuki said if I stole the Sacred Scroll I could…'

The sun was shining, Sakura had become a full ninja, and her rival for Ino's heart had been humiliated and tied up. She looked at the blonde haired doofus talking at her.

'What?' said Naruto 'Why are you looking at me?'

'Nothing.' said Sakura 'This looks like the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.'

Life was good.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

This may be a one shot. I only recently got into Naruto and while I find it enjoyable I dislike the fact that Sakura, a potentially brilliant character, is never allowed to be anything but Sasuke's love interest. Kakashi never trains her in anything and she never gets the chance to do anything.

Moreover she is made rather unsympathetic by the fact that she broke off her friendship with Ino purely because they both had a crush on the same guy. This gave me an interesting idea: What if Sakura was a lesbian?

Tell me what you think.


	2. Pass or Fail

**Chapter Two: Pass or Fail**

Ino sped after Naruto in a fury. It had taken only a minute for her to figure out that she hadn't been seeing things. Even so that had been enough time for Naruto to get very far ahead of her. Actually maybe this was her chance. If she rescued Sasuke she'd be the talk of the town, and be one step closer to making him hers.

As it turned out Naruto hadn't bothered to take him anywhere. He just left him in the middle of the road, tied up. Ino landed by him. 'Sasuke are you alright?'

Quickly drawing out a kunai she cut the ropes.

'Naruto!' roared Sasuke.

'What happened?' asked Ino.

'Nothing happened.' snapped Sasuke 'An accident. A fluke. And I'm going to go fix it.'

And he rushed off.

'Well that didn't go like I hoped.' said Ino 'He didn't even say thank you.'

* * *

Sasuke had found them only a bit after being freed by that stupid girl, Ino. However they had been in a public place having the time of their lives. Naruto had been telling Sakura a story about how he'd supposedly defeated a chunnin and then a jonnin. And Sakura seemed to actually believe it.

Sasuke didn't know how Naruto had earned that headband, if he'd earned it at all, but he knew the idiot could never have gotten it the way he claimed. Sacred Scrolls were well protected.

Just the sight of them talking and laughing infuriated Sasuke. But he couldn't afford to start a fight in public. So he waited until the next day. And now he was waiting some more because their teacher was late. Naruto was pacing restlessly back and forth in the class while Sakura leaned against a desk, looking up at the ceiling

'He's late!' said Naruto.

Brilliant deduction.

'Naruto, just sit down!' said Sakura.

'I don't want to!' snapped Naruto 'How come our teacher is the only one whose late?! I'm ready to roll, believe it! The other groups already met their new teachers and took off on some adventure or something, and Iruka is gone too!'

'We know, okay.' said Sakura. 'Hey what are you doing?'

And then Naruto began scaling up on a desk and opening the door slightly ajar. He closed it with an eraser between it so it was stuck above.

'Naruto,' said Sakura.

'That's what he gets for coming late!' said Naruto 'Serves him right!'

'You're asking for trouble.' said Sakura 'You know you shouldn't do that.'

'Our teacher's a jonin.' snapped Sasuke 'An elite ninja. You think he'd fall for that.'

'Sasuke has a point.' said Sakura 'You really should take it down before-'

'The door opened and their teacher walked through, before getting hit on the head with an eraser. There was a moment of silence as they looked at him. He was a tall, lanky man with with spikey white hair and half his face was covered, including one of his eyes.

Naruto started laughing at once. 'I got him! He totally fell for it!'

'I'm sorry sensei.' said Sakura 'I was trying to talk him out of it.'

 _'_ _He actually fell for that cheap trick?'_ thought Sasuke _'Is this guy really a jonin.'_

The teacher picked up the eraser. He looked at it thoughtfully, then up at them. 'Hmm, how can I put this? My first impression of this group: You're a bunch of idiots.'

This did not bode well.

* * *

It hadn't exactly been the greatest first impression, reflected Sakura. Still there was time to fix that. Now they were standing on a terrace overlooking a river. Their sensei was leaning against the railing. His arms were crossed over his green jacket and he eyed each of them critically.

'Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves. One at a time.' he said.

'Introduce ourselves?' asked Sakura 'What are we supposed to say?'

'Things you like.' said the teacher 'Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies.'

'Why don't you tell us first?' asked Naruto 'I mean before we talk tell us about you so we see how it's supposed to work.'

'Me?' asked sensei 'I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate? I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future? I've never really thought about it. As for my hobbies: I have lots of hobbies.'

'That was totally useless.' muttered Sakura 'All he really told us was his name.'

'Okay your turn.' said Kakashi 'You on the right: You first.'

'Believe it!' said Naruto 'I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup. And I really like the ramen Iruka got me at the noodle shop. But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the ramen in the ramen. My hobby is eating lots of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody. Somebody important!'

Kakashi looked at Naruto carefully and said something under his breath. 'Alright, next.'

'I'm Sakura Haruno.' said Sakura 'What I like is…' She paused. 'I mean the person I like is…' She turned her attention to the side as she imagined herself standing triumphant over Sasuke's beaten form. Ino would see her for what she really was and they'd be married and- She was zoning out wasn't she? 'My hobby is… ah… my dream for the future is…' She squeed.

'And,' said Kakashi 'what do you hate?'

That was easy. 'Sasuke!'

Kakashi didn't change his expression much, but Sakura could tell he was somewhat surprised. Sakura realized that she had been looking in Sasuke's direction There was something about him. Sakura felt a bit of resentment and pushed it down.

'Last one.' said Kakashi.

'My name… is Sasuke Uchiha.' said Sasuke 'I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and kill a certain someone.'

 **'** **What a pretentious jerk.'** said Inner Sakura.

'Good.' said Kakashi 'You're each unique and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow.'

'What kind of mission are we going to have?' asked Naruto.

'It's a task,' said Kakashi 'the four of us will do together.'

'What? What? What?' said Naruto.

'A survival excercise.' said Kakashi.

'Huh?' said Naruto 'A survival excercise.'

'I thought we were supposed to have a real mission.' said Sakura 'Not more practice. We already did this stuff at the academy. That's how we got here.'

'This is not like your previous training.' said Kakashi.

'So what kind of training is it then?' asked Naruto.

Kakashi chuckled in a rather evil fashion.

'Hey hold on.' said Sakura 'That's a normal question. What's so funny?'

'Well,' said Kakashi 'if I tell you the answer you're not going to like it. Of the twenty seven graduates who just came here only nine will actually be accepted as genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words: This is a make it or break it, pass or fail, test. And the chance that you'll fail is at least sixty six percent.'

This was bad. Even Naruto realized it. And Sasuke almost emoted.

'See,' said Kakashi 'didn't I tell you you wouldn't like it?'

'That's crazy!' said Naruto 'We worked hard to get here! Believe it! What was that graduation test for anyway?!'

'Oh that?' asked Kakashi 'That was just to select canidates who might become genin. Or not.'

'What?!' said Naruto.

'That's how it is.' said Kakashi 'I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at 5 AM. And bring your ninja gear.'

 _'_ _If I don't make it,'_ said Sakura _'I'll never be able to impress Ino. This is a trial of love.'_

'That's it.' said Kakashi 'You're dismissed. Oh, and tomorrow you'd better skip breakfast or else… you'll puke.'

* * *

5 AM in the designated training grounds and Kakashi was not there. Sasuke and Naruto were. Which meant that he was going to be late again. Sakura wiped the sleep from her eyes as she approached her teammates. The sky wasn't even fully blue yet. Kami Sakura was hungry.

Kakashi did not arrive in an hour, or two hours, or even three. Soon it was nearly 9 o'clock, the sun was up and shining, birds were chirping and they were very, very, bored.

Then Kakashi appeared. 'Morning everyone, ready for your first day?'

'You're late!' cried Sakura and Naruto.

'Well a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way.' said Kakashi. 'Well, let's get started.' He drew out a clock and set it on one of three posts, before starting it. 'Here we go. It's set for noon.' Then he raised two bells. 'Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you can't get them by noon you go without lunch.

You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch while I eat my lunch in front of you.'

 _'_ _He told us not to eat breakfast to make it harder on us.'_ realized Sakura. Then she realized something. 'Wait a minute, there's three of us. How come there's only two bells?'

Kakashi closed his one visible eye and Sakura had a feeling he was smiling. 'Well that way at least one of you will end up tied to a post and be ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy.'

 **'** **PERFECT!'** cried Inner Sakura **'All we have to do is get one of those bells and make sure Naruto gets the other and Sasuke will be out of our hair forever! Let's see what all his fangirls think when has to retake the academy.'**

'Then again,' noted Kakashi 'all three of you could flunk out too.'

 _'_ _But hang on.'_ thought Sakura _'Naruto only beat Sasuke because he took him offguard. I might be able to get a bell on my own, but Naruto doesn't stand a chance. Unlesss…'_ She smiled. _'An alliance.'_

'You can use any weapons including shuriken.' said Kakashi. 'If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells.'

'Those weapons are too dangerous, sensei!' said Sakura.

'Especially since you couldn't even dodge that eraser.' noted Naruto.

'Class clowns are usually the weakest links.' shot back Kakashi 'You can safely ignore them.'

So Kakashi didn't think anything of Naruto and thought little of her. That could work to her advantage. Sensei would be totally focused on Sasuke.

'When I say start you can begin.' said Kakashi.

Naruto surged forward with a cry of rage. He had a kunai in hand and was stabbing it forward. Kakashi moved easily and in an instant Naruto's kunai was pointing at the back of his head.

'Don't be in such a hurry.' said Kakashi 'I didn't say start yet.'

Sakura took a step back. Kakashi was so fast. She hadn't even seen him move. Sasuke seemed impressed to by the slight narrowing of his eyes.

'But,' said Kakashi 'you came at me with the full intention of killing me so… how can I say this? I'm actually starting to like you guys. Get ready.'

They tensed.

'And start.'

Like leaves the three of them scattered.

Sakura got undercover at once to await an opportunity. Sasuke probably did the same. But Naruto didn't. Instead, he scrambled up to the top of a tree and stood there dramatically. 'You and me, right now, fair and square!'

 **'** **What is that idiot doing?!'** roared Inner Sakura.

'You know,' said Kakashi 'compared to the others you're a little bit weird.'

'Yeah?' asked Naruto 'The only thing weird here is your haircut.' Then he charged again. However, he stopped as Kakashi reached into his bag.

'Shinobi battle techniques, part one.' said Kakashi 'Taijutsu. The physical art.'

Then he drew out a book and began to read. Naruto stared incredulously. 'What the…'

'What are you waiting for?' asked Kakashi 'Make your move.'

'But.. I mean…' began Naruto 'Why are you reading that book?'

'Why?' asked Kakashi 'To find out what happens in the story of course. Don't let it bother you. With your weak attacks, it doesn't really matter if I'm reading or, whatever.'

'I'm going to crush you!' roared Naruto before charging.

What then ensued was perhaps the most nonchalant defense in the history of battles. Kakashi's eyes never turned away from the book as he dodged, weaved, and blocked with only one hand. Naruto unleashed every technique he knew and failed miserably.

So fighting Kakashi head to head was out of the question.

 _'_ _I should cause a distraction,'_ thought Sakura _'then while Kakashi is dealing with that I can grab the bells. Then I can give one to Naruto and Sasuke will be out. But Kakashi isn't even trying if I go for it now I'll lose for sure.'_

Suddenly Kakashi disappeared and reappeared before Naruto. 'Don't let your enemy get behind you all the time.' Then Naruto was sent flying. The boy promptly landed in the lake. Hopefully he'd have the sense to stay there and Sakura could go help him. Then they could make a plan.

'Okay, where was I?' asked Kakashi as he went back to reading.

Then a pair of shurikens shot out toward Kakashi. He reached up and in a split second both shuriken were spinning with his middle and index finger stuck through their holes. Naruto, in the meantime, emerged for air and pulled himself out of the water.

'What are you doing now?' asked Kakashi 'You know you won't get lunch unless you take a bell by noon.'

'I know!' snapped Naruto 'I know! You told us already!'

'You look pretty wobbly for someone whose going to surpass the hokage.' noted Kakshi.

'You told us not to eat breakfast!' roared Naruto 'How can I fight when I'm starving to death!'

 _'_ _Breakfast…'_ thought Sakura _'I didn't even have dinner last night. Really bad idea to go on a diet.'_

Kakashi started walking off.

'So?!' asked Naruto 'You caught me offguard! That's all it was, believe it! I'm going to pass this test! And I'm not going back to the academy! I will become a ninja!'

And then out of the water emerged seven Naruto clones. Kakashi actually looked up from his book as they descended. Seven Narutos? Wait a minute, they weren't images! They were real!

So Naruto really had learned the secrets of the Sacred Scroll?

Kakashi definitely didn't look worried though. And then an eighth Naruto appeared and grabbed Kakashi from behind in a full nelson.

'Didn't you say don't let your enemies get behind you?!' asked Naruto 'Good advice, sensei. Believe it!'

So that was it. He'd had one of his clones come out of the river, then sneak up behind Kakashi while he was distracted. Naruto was far smarter than he looked.

Then his fist landed on… himself. Kakashi had disappeared and been replaced with another Naruto. What?

'You're Kakashi aren't you!' said Naruto. 'You transformed into me using a jutsu!'

'No!' said the other 'You are!'

'No you are!'

'You are!'

And just like that all the Naruto's began to fight amongst one another. Sakura began to think about what she was seeing.

'Hey,' said one 'let's all do the jutsu. Then there will be just two of us, so we'll know whose who!'

'Should have thought of that sooner, fool.'

'You're the jerk! Why didn't you think of it!'

There was a puff of smoke and Naruto was standing alone. Of course, Kakashi had gotten Naruto with a replacement justu. He'd swapped with a clone of Naruto so that they all ended up fighting eachother. That was really clever. Even so, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. So now Sakura could-

'A bell!' said Naruto, seeing something in the grass. 'I must have got to him with my attack! He dropped a bell!'

'No you idiot!' said Sakura 'That's a trap!'

She'd just revealed herself and it was for nothing. Naruto grabbed the bell and was promptly hauled up into the air by a rope. 'Hey, hey, let me down! What is this?!'

'Think before you use a Jutsu.' said Kakashi, reappearing. 'Or else your opponent might use it against you. Oh and, if the bait is obvious, don't take it. A ninja must see through deception.'

'I get it!' snapped Naruto.

'I'm telling you this because you don't get it.' said Kakashi bluntly. 'You think you get it, which is not the same as actually getting it! Get it?' He relaxed. 'Won't you ever learn?'

And then six shurikens flew out of nowhere and caught Kakashi in the back. Blood spattered as Kakashi was flung to one side. Was he dead?

No wait, it was a log.

Sasuke ran off like the wind. Which meant Kakashi would probably go after him next. Now was her chance.

'A ninja must see through deception!' said Naruto in a mocking voice. 'Yeah, yeah, how am I supposed to do that?!'

'Quiet.' said Sakura, leaped past the tree and cutting the rope.

Naruto landed in a heap and got to his feet. 'Thanks Sakura.'

'No problem, Naruto.' said Sakura 'Listen, there are only two bells and at this rate Sasuke is going to get one. The last thing I want is to be stuck on a team with just him, so we should team up instead.'

'Really?' said Naruto 'Alright, let's go!'

'Not so fast.' said Sakura 'We need a plan. Sasuke is fighting Kakashi so we'll find them. Then we'll stay in hiding and when we have an opening you'll use your clones to go after the bells.'

'So I'll grab the bells?' asked Naruto.

'No.' said Sakura 'One distraction isn't enough. Sasuke is the first distraction. You'll be the second. And when he's beaten both of you I'll grab the bells and give you one. Now come on, let's go.'

They raced off through the trees. Soon they found Sasuke and got under cover. He was standing, looking around. '…He's probably already taken out both of them. But I'm not like Sakura and Naruto.'

'Say that after you get one of these bells.' said Kakashi 'My Sasuke.'

This was going to be good. Sakura put a hand to Naruto's shoulder. 'Listen, position some clones all around the clearing. When I tap you on the shoulder you go all out.'

'Gotcha.' said Naruto.

Sasuke hurled a flurry of shurikens which Kakashi dodged. Even as he did so, Sasuke hurled a kunai that cut a rope, unleashing yet another flurry of blades. As Kakashi dodged that one Sasuke appeared behind him and unleashed a roundhouse kick. Kakashi blocked it but looked like he was having trouble holding it where it was. Sasuke then twisted and threw a punch to tie up Kakashi's other arm. Then he reached out for the bells.

Sakura tapped Naruto on the shoulder, even as Kakashi recoiled from the attack.

'Your mine, Kakashi sensei!' roared Naruto as he descended from all sides.

Sakura broke from cover and began sprinting forward as quickly as she could. Kakashi knocked aside the Naruto clones with ease, but he hadn't seen Sakura yet. Running with all her might she surged past Kakashi as he knocked aside the last Naruto clones.

Naruto landed hard on the ground. It was all up to her now.

Reaching out she snatched the bells and rolled away.

'Come on Naruto!' said Sakura 'Let's go!'

She threw a bell at Naruto.

* * *

Sakura had the bells.

Sasuke hadn't even thought it possible. She was an idiot. A know nothing know it all. Yet somehow she had managed to steal them right out from under him even as he was about to win. Once again she'd manipulated that idiot Naruto into playing her stooge.

He needed a bell. He was not going to be held back a year.

He sprinted in between the arc and grabbed the bell right before Naruto could grab it.

'Better luck next time, loser.' he said.

'Hey!' said Naruto 'Give that back! That's mine!'

'I took it fair and square.' said Sasuke.

'Like hell you did.' said Sakura 'We're supposed to take it from Kakashi, not from each other.'

'No one ever said anything about giving it to another student.' said Sasuke 'But you did that.'

'It was the only way to get it!' roared Sakura 'None of us were strong enough to get a bell on our own so I cut a deal with Naruto so I could get two bells and split them so we'd both graduate!'

'You really think Naruto has what it takes to be a ninja?' scoffed Sasuke. 'He only scraped through the academy because Iruka pitied him. He'd be dead in a few seconds in a real mission.'

'Calm down all of you,' said Kakashi calmly 'none of you will be going back to the academy.'

 **'** **GIVE ME BACK MY BELL YOU JERK!'** roared Naruto. Then he halted. 'Wait, what?'

'You pass.' said Kakashi.

'Really?' said Naruto.

'Yep.' said Kakashi 'You and Sakura both cooperated to get the bells. Essential to any team is working together, more than anything else.'

'But Sasuke didn't help at all!' said Naruto 'He didn't even know there was a plan!'

'Yeah,' said Sakura 'he didn't even try to help Naruto. Why should he get in?'

'Oh he's not.' said Kakashi 'Sasuke is being dropped from the program. Permanently.'

'What?' said Sasuke. What kind of joke was this?

'YES!' cheered Sakura. 'In your face, Sasuke!'

He couldn't get dropped. If he was dropped from the program he'd never be able to get his vengeance on _him._ 'Why am I getting dropped?!' said Sasuke 'I'm ten times better than either of these losers!'

'Because you don't think like a ninja.' said Kakashi 'You think like a bully. Like a brat.'

This was too much. Sasuke drew a kunai and rushed at him. He'd thought Kakashi had moved fast before but this was something else. In an instant, he was slammed into the ground with Kakashi's foot on his head.

'You think it's all about you.' said Kakashi. 'You don't know what it means to be a ninja. You think it's a game, huh? Why do you think we put you on a squad, Sasuke? Did you consider that question for one moment?'

'What do you mean?!' snapped Sasuke.

'I mean you never realized what this exercise is all about.' said Kakashi. 'Not even close. Teamwork is what determines whether you pass or fail. Use your head, three people on a squad. Why do you think we would do that?

The only reason Sakura was able to get the bells in the first place was that all three of you pooled your abilities to get them.'

'There were only two bells!' said Sakura 'If we'd all teamed up to get them then that would lead to conflict and the group would break up.'

'Exactly.' said Kakashi 'I purposely pitted you against each other. I wanted to see if you could overcome that and put the squad ahead of yourselves. Sakura and Naruto managed to do that.

But you Sasuke? You thought the others were so far beneath you, they were worthless. Arrogance. Ninja missions are carried out in squads. Of course, you need individual skills, but teamwork is the most essential element. Every shinobi understand this. When individuals put themselves above the squad this leads to failure and death.' He drew out a kunai. 'For instance.'

Suddenly he was gone and had put a blade to Naruto's throat. 'Sakura. Kill Sasuke now or Naruto dies.'

Was he serious? Sasuke tried to get up as Sakura hesitated. 'That's what happens on a mission.' said Kakashi 'The enemy takes a hostage. You've got an impossible choice, and someone ends up dead. On every mission, your life is on the line.'

He walked toward a stone with many names upon it. 'Did you look at this stone?' asked Kakashi. 'The names engraved on it are all ninja who are honored as heroes in our village.'

'That's it! That's it! That's it!' cried Naruto 'I've decided I'm going to have my name engraved on that stone! I'm not going to die for nothing like a dog! I'm going to be a hero! A hero!'

'They are a special kind of hero.' said Kakashi 'They're all KIA.'

'That sounds real cool.' said Naruto.

'It means killed in action.' said Sakura 'They all died.'

'This is a memorial stone.' said Kakashi 'The names of my closest friends are engraved here.' He turned around. 'The exercise is over. Sakura and Naruto pass.'

'YES!' cheered Sakura.

'Alright!'

'Let's go home.'

It was over. Sasuke Uchiha had been dropped from the program.

So much for vengeance. For much for his purpose for living. So much for everything.

He almost cried.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Well, second chapter is up. I found this one quite enjoyable to write.

Also if you were wondering why Kakashi didn't give Sasuke the second chance the whole group got in canon, think about it. In canon all three of them had failed and Naruto had cheated by trying to eat his lunch early. Thus Kakashi could credibly give them a secret test of character.

The problem is that in this circumstance both Naruto and Sakura passed the test. Meanwhile, Sasuke did not, period. This means that the same secret test of character wouldn't work.

On a separate note, I was surprised at how fast a response I got to the last chapter. It inspired me to go ahead with this one.

Now in regards to someone's suggestion to make Hinata a lesbian, the answer is no. The reason this fic idea works is that Sakura's entire character arc revolves around her love for Sasuke. This means that just by altering who she is in love with, you drastically alter the dynamics of Team 7. Hinata, on the other hand, has other elements to her character beyond who she is in love with.

I'm welcome to any more suggestions, though.


	3. Student against Student

**Chapter Three: Student against Student**

There was a tense air in Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's office as the leader of the village looked across his desk at Kakashi and Iruka. The two men were looking at one another with narrowed eyes. Eventually the Hokage turned his attention fully to Kakashi. 'I am told that you failed Sasuke Uchiha and put forth an order for him to be removed from the program.'

'That is correct, Hokage.' said Kakashi.

'May I ask why?' asked Sarutobi.

'He's arrogant and in need of humbling.' said Kakashi 'He disregarded his teammates in favor of engaging me directly. Whether he is impressive or not, ninjas who acted without regard to their comrades are a liability. Ordinarily I would have held him back a year instead, but he attempted to steal Naruto and Sakura's victory.

A failure to work together is one thing, but actively interfering with the mission in pursuit of a personal agenda is unforgivable. For all his skill he is completely mentally unsuitable to be a ninja.'

'Hokage, Sasuke Uchiha is the most skilled student of his generation and he is the last of his clan.' said Iruka 'The kid has suffered a lot and it has affected his growth. Holding him back a year is one thing, but he should be kept in the program.

If we kick him out now, it'll destroy him. And even if it doesn't, Sasuke has based his entire life around gaining power. Other ninja villages might jump at the chance to train their own generation of Uchiha's.'

Sarutobi considered the question. Privately he suspected that Kakashi had never wanted to have a team in the first place. He had gone out of his way to fail every batch of students who were assigned to him on Team 7. As a result of this it had become tradition to give him students that were problematic but qualified.

Still, Sasuke Uchiha was too important to lose here. He'd seen the boy's ambition and he was certain that if he did not get training here, he would seek it elsewhere. The alternative to training him thus became to keep him under constant watch, which would take a great deal of manpower which could be used elsewhere. Combined with his natural talent it made Kakashi's decision seem incredibly reckless.

He removed the pipe from his lips and let the smoke escape his lips. 'Iruka is right.' said Sarutobi. 'Removing him from the program is out of the question. However, at the same time I find it doubtful that Sasuke will gain anything more from the academy.' He paused thoughtfuly. 'Kakashi, I want you to take him on as a student regardless.'

'Won't that undermine any effect the punishment has in the first place?' asked Iruka. 'If he thinks he's above the rules it could go to his head.'

'Let us frame it as a second chance.' said Sarutobi 'We will give him an opportunity to prove himself on a few missions. Should problems persist then he will be returned to the academy. I leave the task of explaining the situation to you, Iruka.'

'Shouldn't I be the one to do it?' asked Kakashi.

'Let us let it appear as though Iruka spoke to you directly and convinced you to give him another chance.' said Sarutobi 'Sasuke has few emotional attachments in the village. A sense of gratitude towards an authority figure may go a long way to anchoring him.'

* * *

The Uchiha Manor was huge. Once it had been filled with life. There had been many people living here. Now it was empty except for the last member of that clan. And he was a dropout.

It was over. Sasuke had failed. He wouldn't be going on a ninja mission. He wouldn't be returning to the academy. His career was over before it began and all he could do was sit in the empty house where he lived and mull it over.

There was a kunai in his hand. He could use it very skillfully. More skillfully than anyone else in the academy. He'd thought that would be enough.

Except it wasn't enough. He'd screwed up. He'd failed his family. Failed in his oath. He'd always been a failure.

There was a knock at the door. Sasuke looked up. Who was that? Getting up slowly he made his way there and opened it. Iruka sensei was looking through. 'What is it?'

Iruka handed him some papers. Sasuke took them and looked at them. He stared at it for a long time before it dawned on them what it was. He could hardly believe his eyes. 'Iruka. What is this?'

'That is Iruka sensei to you, Sasuke.' said Iruka 'And its the location of the Team 7 meeting grounds. You're still in the program.'

'What?' said Sasuke 'I am?! How?'

'I had to pull every string I had but I got Kakashi to give you another chance.' said Iruka 'You aren't going to be held back a year and you'll start your first missions with Team 7 this morning.'

'I… but I…' Sasuke choked out the words.

Then Iruka put a hand on his head. 'Don't get me wrong. You messed up. You messed up big. But then Naruto messes up way more often than you, and I care about his future. I care about all my students Sasuke. Don't waste this chance.'

For the first time in a very long time Sasuke felt legitimately happy. He still had a shot. 'Thank you!' he said 'Thank you! I… I need to get ready right away!' And he rushed in to get his things.

'Just make sure you're on time!' called Iruka 'I know Kakashi never is, but you've got to be the better person here.'

'Right!' said Sasuke as he quickly threw together his things.

'And Sasuke.' said Iruka.

'Yeah?' asked Sasuke.

'Give Naruto and Sakura a chance, okay.' said Iruka.

Sakura and Naruto were half the reason he was in this mess. Still, he was the other half. 'I'll try.'

He rushed out for the meeting spot, cutting across several rooftops to cut down on travel time. As it turned out he made it just in time and landed on the bridge where Sakura and Naruto were talking. Both of them instantly looked up in mistrust.

'Sasuke,' said Sakura what are you doing here?' Her voice was guarded.

'Yeah, I thought you got dropped from the program.' said Naruto. 'Believe it.'

Giving these two a chance was going to be hell wasn't it? What had he done to make Sakura hate him anyway? All the others girls were always after him in a good way. But Sakura was always glaring at him. At the time he'd assumed that she was one of those tsundere types, but that didn't seem to be the case.

On the other hand Naruto was her puppet. He'd believe whatever Sakura told him to so Sakura was the key. For now he'd just be professional.

'Iruka sensei convinced Kakashi to give me another chance.' said Sasuke.

'Well that's fair, I guess.' said Naruto.

That was surprising.

* * *

' **No it isn't! He was supposed to be gone! Shot down! Removed! Defeated! This cannot be!'** roared Inner Sakura. **'This isn't over Sasuke, not by a long shot!'**

But Sakura didn't say anything like that. Instead she said nothing at all. Sasuke stood on the opposite side of the bridge, arms crossed and looking less intense than usual. Naruto, in the meantime, was fiddling with his headband.

Time passed and Sakura grew impatient. 'Where is Sensei? This is the third time he's been late out of three meetings!'

Sasuke pointed upward. On top of the gate stood Kakashi at a crouch. The jonin waved to them. 'Good morning everyone.'

'You're late sensei!' said Naruto.

'A true ninja is never late or early, Naruto.' said Kakashi ' He arrives exactly when he means to.'

'I guess you meant to arrive late then.' said Sakura.

'Today we're going to be doing your first real mission.' said Kakashi, ignoring her. 'And even though you are young, this is a mission of great importance.'

'Oh what is it sensei?!' asked Naruto 'Are we going to fight some bad guys?! Or rescue a princess? Or maybe chase down a fugitive.'

'Why yes, Naruto.' said Kakashi 'A fugitive of such power that I wasn't sure you three could handle it. Still, it seems just about on your level. We'll soon see.'

Why did Sakura have the feeling he was about to be disappointed? Nothing was ever simple with Kakashi.

* * *

Deep within a forest near the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the trio stalked their prey. Slowly creeping into position they herded it gradually into the open.

 _'_ _Sasuke, I'm at point B.'_ camed Sasuke's voice over the walkie talkie.

 _'_ _Sakura, I'm at point C.'_ said Sakura.

 _'_ _Naruto, I'm at point eight. Believe it.'_ said Naruto.

 _'_ _You're slow Naruto.'_ said Kakashi ' _Okay Squad 7.'_ Then there was a blur of black as a yellow eyed shadow shot across the forest. _'Target has moved! Follow it!'_

 _'_ _Over there!'_ said Naruto.

 _'_ _What's your distance from the target?'_ asked Kakashi.

 _'_ _Five meters. I'm ready, just give the signal.'_ said Sasuke.

 _'_ _I'm ready too.'_ said Naruto.

 _'_ _So am I.'_ said Sakura.

 _'_ _Okay. Now!'_ said Kakashi.

All three of them surged after the target. There was one final desperate race and then Naruto was upon it. They rolled over in the dirt.

'I got him! I got him!' said Naruto.

It's claws were raking against him as it hissed and sputtered. In that final struggle it was all Naruto could do to keep his grip.

 _'_ _Can you verify the ribbon on the right ear?'_ asked Kakashi.

'Affirmative.' said Sasuke 'We've got a positive ID.'

Kakashi smiled in satisfaction. _'Right, lost pet Tora captured. Mission accomplished._

 ** _'_** ** _CAN'T WE GET A BETTER MISSION THAN THIS?!'_** roared Naruto **_'I HATE CATS!'_**

* * *

The meeting hall was a spacious office with a long desk at which many officials met. The Hokage sat at the very center with Iruka by his side. Near them a very overweight young woman was hugging her cat in a death grip which rubbing it. 'Oh yes, my poor little baby. Mommy was so worried about you. Yes she was…'

The cat looked like she was going to die for lack of air.

'That kitty deserves to be squashed.' laughed Naruto.

'No wonder he ran away.' said Sakura.

No matter. Now it was time to advance to the next stage. After this kind of accomplishment they were sure to get something better. The Hokage looked at the sheet. 'Now then, for Squad 7's next mission we have several available tasks. Huh? Among them babysitting the chief councilors three year old, helping his wife to do the shopping, digging up potatoes and-'

'No, no, no!' said Naruto 'I want to go on a real mission! Something challenging and exciting, not this little kid stuff! Come on old man!'

 _'_ _He's got a point.'_ thought Sasuke.

 _'_ _I knew this was coming.'_ thought Kakashi.

'How dare you!' snapped Iruka 'You're just a brat genin with no experience! Like everyone else you start with simple missions to develop your skills and prove yourself!'

'You serious?!' roared Naruto 'Babysitting is not a mission, it's just a stupid-'

Kakashi whacked Naruto over the head, sending him falling to the ground. 'Will you put a lid on it.'

'Naruto,' said the Hokage 'it seems you do not understand the tasks you have been given. Listen, many different kinds of requests come into our village every day. From babysitting to assassinations. These requests are carefully recorded, analyzed, then ranked A, B, C, or D, depending on their difficulty. We ninja are also ranked by ability.

Kage are at the top, jonin beneath them, then chunin, then genin at the bottom. At the highest level we select the missions and assign them to ninja who have the appropriate skill and experience. And if the mission is successful we receive that supports our village and our work.

Since you are untried genin just starting down the shinobi path you are given D level assignments.'

But Naruto wasn't listening. Neither was Sakura, or Sasuke or Kakashi. 'So I had this takesa ramen yesterday and for tomorrow I figure-'

'Silence!' said the Hokage

'Oh,' said Kakashi 'sorry.'

'You always lecture me like your my grandfather!' said Naruto 'But I'm not the brat who used to pull pranks all the time! I'm a ninja now and I want a real mission!'

'I'm going to hear about this later.' muttered Kakashi.

The Hokage smiled and chuckled, as did Iruka. Were they caving in? 'Naruto wants us to know that he's not a brat anymore. He's a former brat. And he wants a mission. So be it.'

Naruto looked up.

'Since you are so determined…' said the Hokage 'Babysitting, or potatoes?'

In retrospect expecting the Hokage to cave in just because Naruto threw a tantrum was a bit optimistic. 'We'll take the potatoes.' said Sakura with a sigh.

Later that afternoon Kakashi took them to the training grounds they had been at before. As they walked Naruto was grumbling. 'Why do we have to do all these menial chores! I'm a ninja, not a gardener!'

Kakashi ignored him. 'Well, we've got a busy day tomorrow. But I don't think that means we can't get a bit of training in the meantime. So Naruto, you and Sakura will spar first.'

'What?' said Naruto 'But I can't beat up a girl.'

'Relax, Naruto.' said Sakura 'I went through the same lessons you did.'

Naruto took his position reluctantly while Sakura took on a stance. Sasuke observed. He'd been taken by surprise earlier, but this would be a good chance to see how they fought.

'You can use any weapons or techniques you want.' said Kakashi 'Anything goes except lethal force.'

Sakura stood there, waiting for the match to begin. This could be trouble. She didn't know any jutsus, her family had no history with them. Naruto, on the other hand, had a whole bunch. That meant she had a serious disadvantage when it came to deception.

If Naruto fought smart she was done. But Naruto never fought smart at first. Which meant she had to take him out before he could.

'Ready,' said Kakashi.

'Now hold on-' said Naruto -

'Go!' said Kakashi.

Sakura shot forward toward Naruto and unleashed a punch. The boy ducked under it just barely and rolled away. Even at he did Sakura brought around her leg to kick his legs out from under him, but he leaped over it before backing away.

He continued to back away as Sakura went after him. Eventually his back hit a tree and he had nowhere to run. Instead he moved aside from Sakura's punch and vaulted over him.

'Stand still, damn it!' said Sakura.

'I don't want to hurt you.' said Naruto.

'We're sparring you moron!' said Sakura. Then an idea occurred. 'If you don't take this seriously you'll- Ow!' She fell to her knee, clutching her foot. 'Damn it, I think I sprained my ankle.'

'What!' said Naruto, rushing over to her. 'Are you okay?! Should I call-'

Close enough. Sakura brought up a fist and punched Naruto upside the boy was lifted two feet off the ground and landed with a crash on the ground. He pulled himself half up. 'Ow, that wasn't fair!'

Sakura was on him and pinned him to the ground with one knee.

'It's over.' said Kakashi 'Sakura wins. Naruto, you do realize that the point of this exercise was to fight?'

'Well yeah, but it's Sakura.' said Naruto.

'Sakura or no, if you don't put your all into this kind of thing then when a real fight comes both of you could end up dead. This is why you aren't qualified to go on anything other than a D rank mission. You lack experience. You lack techniques and most importantly, you lack common sense.' He looked to Sasuke. 'Still, since you are so reluctant to fight Sakura I'll have the next match be you against Sasuke.'

Sakura got off Naruto and the boy stood up. 'Alright! Get ready to lose again, Sasuke!'

Sasuke said nothing as he took his position. Sakura walked to the sidelines. 'Be careful Naruto. Remember you don't have the element of surprise this time!'

'No problem!' said Naruto 'I'm a lot stronger than last time! Believe it!'

'Ready,' said Kakashi 'and go.'

Naruto began making hand motions to use his clone jutsu. But Sasuke was faster. The boy surged forward and unleashed a flurry of lighting fast strikes which left Naruto on the ground, groaning.

'Last time you took me off guard.' said Sasuke 'I won't make that mistake again-'

Naruto surged forward and tried to punch Sasuke, but the boy moved aside effortlessly. In a flurry Naruto attacked him again and again. But each time Sasuke moved aside with absolute ease. Sakura realized that Sasuke was reading Naruto's moves and adapting to them.

Then Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the hand and jabbed him in the stomach. Naruto keeled over gasping. Sasuke turned to walk away.

'Don't you walk away from me!' said Naruto, standing up despite his bruises. 'I'm going to be a Hokage! Believe it-'

'It's over.' said Kakashi 'Sasuke won.'

'What?' said Naruto 'But I'm still standing!'

'Weren't you paying attention?' asked Kakashi 'Lethal force is prohibited in this exercise. What do you think would have happened if you and Sasuke had both been trying to kill each other? You'd be dead, no matter how determined you are.'

Sakura gulped. Sasuke was just better in direct combat than her. Heck, Naruto would be better in direct combat against her if he fought smart. And if she had any idea where this was going she'd face off against Sasuke next.

'Now, Naruto your taijutsu is a disgrace.' said Kakashi 'It has a lot of holes in it. I wonder if you even paid attention during your classes.'

'Sorry sensei.' said Naruto.

'You're going to have fix that.' said Kakashi 'From now on when you're waiting for me to arrive I want you to spar with Sakura. I'll also be taking charge of your instruction.' He looked to Sasuke. 'Sasuke…'

Sasuke looked up.

'Never turn your back to an enemy who is still conscious.' said Kakashi 'Naruto might have been dead in real life, but he could have still clung to life long enough to drive a kunai through your back.

You were far too overconfident. You assumed that just because Naruto got the jump on you once it meant he couldn't compete on an even playing field. Even idiots can be dangerous. In the way of the ninja, overconfidence is death.'

'I understand.' said Sasuke.

'Good.' said Kakashi 'Now class dismissed.'

Wait, so Sakura wasn't going to have to fight Sasuke? Thank kami. Though she couldn't help but wonder why Kakashi hadn't pitted them up against each other. It made perfect sense for Sakura to fight Sasuke, heck, Naruto got far lower scores than her.

 **'Damn that Kakashi!'** said Inner Sakura **'He's not taking me seriously! How am I ever going to beat Sasuke if he won't let me fight him!'**

Sakura ignored her. Kakashi was a jonin and after all those speeches about teamwork there was no way he'd engage in favoritism.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Okay, I'm just going to come right out and say this. There are several points in Naruto where really, really, stupid decisions are made. One of them is when the Hokage gives Naruto a C rank mission just because he throws a tantrum. No competent leader would ever do anything of the sort.

If I run into anything in the plot which really just doesn't make sense to me, or is really, really, stupid, I intend to write around it to make it make a bit more sense.


	4. Training

**Chapter Four: Training**

Weeks passed during which Sakura and Naruto sparred constantly between their rather inglorious missions. Naruto had an aggressive brawling style and once he started attacking Sakura found herself constantly on the defensive. He also had more jutsus which meant that Sakura had to constantly think in order to outmeneuever him. Naruto rarely faired well against Sasuke, but he kept getting better.

Meanwhile Kakashi never sent Sakura against Sasuke at all. At first she'd tried to ignore it, but it was beginning to irritate her. After her latest loss against Naruto she silently fumed.

 **'** **ARG! This is so stupid!'** roared Sakura **'I want to fight Sasuke! How am I ever supposed to prove myself better than him if I never get a chance to fight him!'**

Sakura ignored that side of her. Kakashi sensei knew best, she was sure. You weren't supposed to question your teachers. Even so, she couldn't help but notice that Kakashi was spending the least amount of time on her. Actually he seemed focused totally on Naruto.

 **'** **It isn't fair.'** thought Inner Sakura **'Why should Naruto get all this attention?'**

 _'_ _Naruto needs it the most.'_ shot back Sakura _'He's got a lot of technical skills that need work. He barely scraped through in the academy.'_

 **'** **Yeah but we don't have any jutsu.'** shot back Inner Sakura **'Why isn't Kakashi sensei teaching us any!'**

 _'_ _He probably doesn't think we're ready.'_ mused Sakura. _'I mean we've only been at this for a little over a month. We haven't even gotten past everyday chores.'_

'Hey Sakura!' called a voice.

Sakura looked up and saw Ino approaching her, waving. Sakura suppressed her blush and stood from the bench she had been sitting on. 'Oh hey Ino, um, how's the new team working out?'

'Awful.' admitted Ino 'Choji never stops eating or thinking about eating, and Shimaru is completely lazy. He never exerts himself in anything. I really envy you, you know. Being on a team with Sasuke must be a dream.'

'Not really.' said Sakura.

'What do you mean?' asked Ino, an edge in her tone.

'Well I mean,' Sakura paused 'all I mean to say is that Sasuke really isn't much of a team player is all. And I'm not into him like you are.'

'Well I guess he is sort of a team unto himself.' said Ino.

'Yeah, um,' Sakura paused 'about Sasuke Ino…'

'Yes, what is it?' asked Ino.

How could she get Ino to stop. 'Um, are you sure he is really worth going after?'

'Oh but of course he is.' said Ino 'He's the top student at the academy. The last heir to the Uchiha clan. It's so romantic and he's so handsome…'

'Right um,' said Sakura, time to change the subject. 'so do you want to get lunch together?'

'Sure,' said Ino.

 **'** **YES! THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!'** said Inner Sakura.

And then Naruto landed on top of the wall. 'Hey Sakura!' said Naruto 'I was wondering if you wanted to get ramen together!'

 **'** **Damn it!'** said Inner Sakura.

'Uh, no thanks Naruto.' said Sakura 'Me and Ino were kind of going out- I mean, eating lunch together.'

'Oh.' said Naruto 'Can I come?'

 **'** **Stop getting in the way!'** cried Inner Sakura.

'This is kind of a girl thing-' began Sakura.

'No it's fine.' said Ino 'It might be nice to have more than one person around.'

'WHAT?!' said Sakura.

 **'** **What is going on? She's never shown interest in Naruto before now.'** mused Sakura **'What is Ino playing at?'**

'Wow,' said Naruto 'thanks Ino.'

And that was how Ino, Naruto and a very disappointed Sakura ended up eating at the ramen place. Worse still, Ino spent most of the time talking to Naruto.

'So Naruto, I've been wondering about something for a while.' said Ino 'Iruka sensei said that you failed your test when I was there. But then he changed it so that you graduated. How'd you manage that?'

'Well um…' Naruto paused 'Mizuki sensei got me to steal the Sacred Scroll of the Leaf Village. He said that if I could learn one of the techniques on the scroll then I'd graduate. So I managed to steal it from Old Man Hokage's vault and learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu.'

'Mizuki,' said Ino 'I heard that he was thrown in prison. But I never heard why. How'd you manage to avoid being punished?'

'Well Mizuki was planning to steal the scroll from me and blame it on me while he got away.' said Naruto 'But Iruka sensei saved me and they fought. But Iruka got injured and I got really angry and summoned a ton of Shadow Clones and beat Mizuki up.

Then Iruka sensei gave me this headband and I passed.'

Sakura had heard this story before so she only half listened. Ino seemed very impressed, but Ino could seem one thing and be another. She had that talent. 'Wow,' said Ino 'I'm impressed Naruto. I didn't know you had that kind of power.'

 **'** **She doesn't believe him.'** said Inner Sakura **'She's only pretending to. What's this all about?'**

'Yeah, well, I'm gonna be Hokage someday so it makes sense.' said Naruto 'So uh, what kind of jutsus do you have Ino?'

Ino smiled. 'Well, I've got one or two really good ones. I'm not sure I want to go revealing them.'

'Oh come on, tell me!' said Naruto 'I gotta know!'

'Tell you what,' said Ino 'I'll tell you about my special jutsu if you teach me that Shadow Clone technique.'

'Um, that sounds fair.' said Naruto.

Ino was manipulating Naruto. She was going to get a new ability out of this and all she had to do was tell Naruto about her jutsu. Sakura could probably foil her plan right here and now, but if she did that Ino would be angry. No, she couldn't do it. Then she had an idea.

'Hey Naruto,' said Sakura 'could you teach me that jutsu as well?'

'Sure.' said Naruto. 'Um, let's do it after lunch.'

They finished their meal and then they began to train.

Sakura learned to summon the clones over the next few days. She found that her chakra was far smaller than Naruto's. She simply wasn't able to create as many clones as he could. Ino was better than her, of course, and picked up the talent very quickly, always acting very impressed and talking.

It was only a few days after they had both learned it that Sakura realized Ino hadn't told Naruto her secret. And Naruto had forgotten. Sakura and Ino ate breakfast together the next morning

'Ino,' said Sakura 'you never did tell Naruto about your special Jutsu.'

'It slipped my mind.' said Ino 'And he didn't ask afterward.'

'No it didn't.' said Sakura.

'Oh alright, fine.' said Ino 'I lied. To be perfectly honest I didn't believe he really learned it at first. But come on Sakura, we're ninjas! Deception is part of the job description. Relax, it isn't like Naruto was going to get any use out of the info.'

Sakura said nothing. Instead, she chewed on her breakfast thoughtfully. 'What do you want the Shadow Clone Jutsu for anyway?'

'Well,' said Ino, a finger circling around her cup. 'I had a bit of an idea. You know how when I use my power my body stops moving?'

'Yeah,' said Sakura 'what about it?'

'Well I was just thinking,' said Ino 'if I could create clones maybe I could possess someone using one of my clones and still keep on moving.'

'So does it work?' asked Sakura.

Ino smiled.

Sakura suddenly found herself standing outside the restaurant with Ino standing in front of her. She looked around. 'What the, what just happened?!'

Ino tapped her on the shoulder and Sakura looked up to see her friend in two places at once. 'Yeah, it worked. Thanks for paying for breakfast Sakura.'

'What?!' said Sakura 'Ino, it was your turn!'

* * *

Sakura was still in a huff when she met the others on the bridge, an hour late. Sasuke was silent as always and Naruto was playing solitaire with a deck of cards. He looked up and smiled as she approached. Sakura had half a mind to tell Naruto all of Ino's abilities, just to spite her but decided against it. It really wouldn't be of any use to Naruto.

'Late again?' asked Sakura.

'Yeah.' said Naruto.

'You don't seem very annoyed.' noted Sakura.

'Why would I be annoyed?' asked Naruto 'He's just going to make us do some stupid chore. Ah! We're ninjas! We should be fighting bad guys and saving princesses!'

'Not this again.' said Sakura 'Naruto, constantly complaining about the jobs we get is only going to convince people that we aren't ready. We're just kids.'

'Yeah, whatever.' said Naruto. 'Hey, I have an idea.'

'What?' asked Sakura

'Why don't we try arriving late for once?' asked Naruto.

'What do you mean?' asked Sakura.

'Yeah,' said Naruto 'from now on we can just cut two hours off and do whatever. Then we get here one hour ahead of time.'

'What if he gets here on time?' asked Sakura.

'Then it serves him right.' said Naruto.

'It's a bad idea.' said Sasuke suddenly.

'What do you know?' asked Naruto.

'Kakashi is our sensei.' said Sasuke 'If we're going to get stronger we have to obey him.'

'Yeah well, for a sensei he jerks us around a lot.' muttered Sakura.

At that moment Kakashi arrived.

'Sorry I'm late,' said Kakashi 'I was admiring some masonry.'

'Yeah right.' said Sakura and Naruto.

'Today we're going to be doing some special training.' said Kakashi 'No mission. Follow me.'

He led them to another training ground and stopped there before turning to them. He drew out a timer. 'Now today we will be doing an exercise. I'm going to start this timer and you will go to try and hide yourselves. When it rings you are going to begin hunting each other.'

'Hunting each other?' asked Naruto.

'Yes.' said Kakashi 'You may use whatever means you deem necessary except lethal force. The last one standing is the winner.'

The last one standing would be Sasuke. Which meant Sakura should seek an alliance with Naruto before removing him once he was defeated. Sakura looked to Naruto, who was glaring at Sasuke, who in turn gave them an expressionless gaze. They tensed for a spring.

Kakashi set down the timer and set it. It began to click. All of them rushed away. Sakura went after Naruto as they did so. 'Naruto, we should work together.'

'Huh?' said Naruto 'But Kakashi sensei said to work together.'

'Maybe,' said Sakura 'but we'll lose for sure if we go against Sasuke one on one. And this might be another teamwork test. Let's team up.'

'Okay!' said Naruto 'So what's the plan!'

'You make a huge commotion with your Shadow Clones.' said Sakura 'That way you'll draw Sasuke out. When he goes after you, I'll sneak attack him from behind.'

'Okay.' said Naruto.

Sakura began to hide, picking a place underneath the bushes. With any luck Sasuke would go after Naruto first. Still, Sasuke was smart. And he'd seen this strategy before. So maybe he'd figure out what she was doing. So she should use her new powers. She made a plan and created two clones and set them up in various places. The effort hurt. Sakura had only an average level of chakra and she felt lightheaded for a moment. She forced herself to focus.

The timer went off.

Naruto immediately leaped into view of a clearing. 'Alright, Sasuke! Come out here and fight me! This time I'll beat you for sure!'

There was no response. Naruto scratched his head. Sasuke wasn't taking the bait. Then there was movement in the trees. Naruto looked up. 'There you are Sasuke! Get back here!' And he rushed after the blur.

Sakura rushed after them. Naruto was going to get beaten easily at this rate. He was probably already being led into a trap. Sure enough, she came into the clearing just in time to see Naruto being pulled up into a tree by a rope. Two of his shadow clones were destroyed and even as Naruto tried to cut himself free Sasuke appeared behind him and knocked him unconscious with a punch.

Well, it looked like she was going to get that one on one fire with Sasuke after all.

One of Sakura's clones rushed towards Sasuke, and he turned around to strike at her. Even as his hand struck her she disappeared in an explosion of smoke. Then Sakura made her move, charging through the smoke towards Sasuke, she swung a punch and caught him with a vicious right hook.

Sasuke backpedaled in surprise and she pressed her advantage, unleashing a flurry of blows which he barely parried. Yet he was recovering. Sakura took a risk and brought around a low kick to try and knock his legs out from under him. But he leaped over it easily and lashed out with a kick of her own.

Sakura saw stars.

* * *

She woke up a few hours later aching all over. She'd made an alliance with Naruto like last time, but Sasuke had taken them seriously this time. And he had utterly destroyed them even when working together. He'd outmenuevered Naruto and Sakura just didn't have the same natural power as him. Which left Sakura wondering how she could pull off a victory. She needed new jutsus.

 **'** **Damn it!'** said Inner Sakura **'How are we supposed to beat Sasuke?'**

It was a question that plagued her for the next week.

Later, as Team 7 made its way to the Hokage's office, Sakura wondered what their mission would be. And she wasn't wondering with any enthusiasm. She dreaded learning what the next menial, demeaning chore. What was it this time? Laundry? Digging ditches?

The Hokage looked at them carefully from behind his desk, Iruka next to him. His eyes were amused. 'Well, you've certainly proven yourselves capable of the basics. I'm told all of your abilities have begun to grow. Since you are improving so quickly, I'm going to give you a C ranked mission. You'll be bodyguards on a journey.'

Naruto perked up. 'Really?!'

 **'** **Finally.'** said Inner Sakura.

'Who?! Who?!' said Naruto. 'Are we guarding a princess? Or some big league councilor?!'

'Don't be so impatient.' said the Hokage with a smile. 'I will bring him in now. Send in our visitor.'

The door opened and into the room lumbered a large old man carrying a pack on his back and wearing a straw hat. His gray beard was disheveled and he looked at them with bleary eyes. In one hand was an open bottle of saki. 'What the… A bunch of little snot nosed kids?!' He took a swig from his bottle before leaning against the wall. 'And you, the little one with the idiotic look on your face, you really expect me to believe you're a ninja?'

Naruto laughed. 'Who's the little one with the idiotic look on his-' He paused as he realized he was the shortest one out of all of them. Then he surged forward, only to be dragged back by Kakashi. 'I'll kill you! I'll rip out your eyes and feed them to the birds and bury your corpse in a cess pit.'

'You can't murder the client, Naruto.' said Kakashi in long-suffering exasperation. 'It doesn't work that way.'

The man finished his drink. 'I am Tazuna, a master bridgebuilder and I must return to my country. I'm building a bridge there that will change our world and I expect you to get me there safely, even if it means giving up your life.'

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Funny. I've made two chapters from the contents of less than seven minutes of the episode. The problem was that Sakura had already pulled off two separate victories over Sasuke. First by getting Naruto to get the jump on him, and second by getting him almost kicked from the program.

I needed something to make Sasuke a credible rival. So here we go. Also, I believe I wasn't clear last chapter.

See in the original show the implication is that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura have been doing D ranked missions for a while before they get their first C mission. The thing is, I established in this fic that catching Tora the cat was their first mission, which made Naruto much more out of line.

I'm still doing the Land of Waves arc. I just adjusted the timeline a little.


	5. Mission to the Land of Waves

**Chapter Five: Mission to the Land of Waves**

They made their way out through the great gates of Kohena and into the forests beyond. On their backs were packs filled with the supplies and equipment they would need on the journey. Sasuke was silent, as always. Sakura wasn't talking much either.

Naruto though was overjoyed. He cheered aloud as he made his way out. 'Yeah! Alright!'

'What are you getting so excited about, Naruto?' asked Sakura.

'This is the first time I've ever left the village.' said Naruto, looking around. 'I'm a traveler now, believe it!'

'Hey!' said Tazuna 'Am I supposed to trust my life to this runt? He's a joke.'

Kakashi laughed. 'He's with me and I'm a jonin so you don't have to worry.'

'Hey!' roared Naruto 'Never insult a ninja, it's a big mistake! And I'm one of the greatest ninja ever! Someday I'm going to be a hokage and you'll look up to me! My names' Naruto Uzumaki. Remember it!'

'Hokage are powerful and wise.' said Tazuna as they walked. 'You are puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage I'll sprout wings and fly.'

'Shut up!' said Naruto 'I'm willing to do anything to become Hokage, no matter what it takes! And when I do everyone will have to admit that I'm the top ninja including you!'

'Good,' said Kakashi 'you can start by not threatening the client.'

Thus began their journey. As they walked Sakura found curiousity coming to her. 'Say, Mr. Tazuna. Your country is the land of waves, right?'

'Yeah?' asked Tazuna 'What of it?'

'Kakashi sensei,' said Sakura 'there are ninja in that country too, aren't there?'

'No.' said Kakashi 'There are no ninja in the land of waves. But in other countries there are hidden villages. Each with their own different customs and cultures where ninja reside.'

'Um, Kakashi sensei…' began Sakura.

'To the people of this continent the existence of Shinobi villages means strength.' said Kakashi. 'Military strength. In other words, that's how they protect themselves and maintain the balance of power in the countries. The ninja villages are not controlled by any government.'

'Sensei…' said Sakura.

'They're independent and have equal status.' said Kakashi 'Now a small island like the Land of Waves has natural protection from the sea. So there is no need for a ninja village.'

'Sensie…' said Sakura, letting frustration slip into her voice.

'The five ancient lands that possesss Shinobi villages are the lands of of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth. They each occupy vast territories. Together they are known as the five great Shinobi nations.'

'Sensei!' shouted Sakura.

'The land of Fire has the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the land of Water the Village Hidden in the Mist. The land of Lightning the Village Hidden in the Clouds, the land of Wind, the Village Hidden in the Sand, and the Land of Earth, the Village Hidden in the Stones. Only the leaders of these Hidden Villages are permitted the name Kage. Which means-'

 **'** **SEEENSEEEI!'** roared Sakura.

'Do you have to shout?' asked Kakashi.

'We already know all of this!' said Sakura 'We have lived in this world our entire lives! The only one who doesn't know is Naruto and that's because he never pays attention in class!'

'Well I'm saying it for his benefit.' said Kakashi. 'Where was I?'

'The Kages.' said Sakura.

'Ah yes.' said Kakashi 'The five Kages are: Hokage, Mikage, Ryekage, Kazikage, and Tsukage. These are the leaders. The five shadows who reign over thousands of ninja. Understand?'

'Wait I zoned out there for a second, what?' asked Naruto.

Kakashi didn't seem angry. In fact Sakura had the feeling he was smiling as he put a hand on her head. 'Well, anyway, there are no ninja battles in a C ranked mission. So you can relax.'

'Then we're not going to run into any foreign enemy ninja or anything like that?' asked Sakura in relief.

'Not likely.' said Kakashi.

There was a bird call overhead as they made their way along the path. Sakura looked around curiously. But she saw nothing. As they pressed on they crossed a bridge over a river that was very low.

'Wow,' said Sakura 'we probably wouldn't even need the bridge, huh sensei?'

'Probably not.' admitted Kakashi 'It hasn't rained in some time so the rivers are all a bit low in this heat.'

* * *

They walked onward for a few more days and the heat only became worse. On the third day Sakura noticed something strange. A puddle in the middle of the road? But it hadn't rained in weeks. Maybe there had been someone carrying water running down this road. Yeah, that was probably it.

She pressed on to catch up with the others. Then there was a low sound of footfalls behind them. Sakura turned around just in time to see two black clad ninja surging towards Kakashi with a sharp chain.

'What?!' said Kakashi.

The chains were wrapped around him in an instant and tightened. Then there was an explosion of blood. Kakashi sensei was dead. Sakura let out a scream despite herself.

'Kakashi sensei!' cried Naruto.

Then the ninjas were behind him as well.

'Now it's your turn!' cried one.

Sakura groped for her kunai, but Sasuke was faster. He hurled a shuriken which knocked the chain back and pinned it to the tree. Sakura got out her weapon as Sasuke landed on their arms. They were trapped in place, she had to move now.

Her arms were shaking. Her heart was beating harder than it ever had. She couldn't move.

Then it was too late. Sasuke kicked them both in the face. Yet the chains disconnected from their gaunlets and one turned to rush at Tazuna, the other at Naruto.

She had to stop them. Sakura charged.

Then Kakashi sensei was there. His hands gripped both ninja by the throat. 'Hi.' He said.

 _'_ _Kakashi sensei!'_ thought Sakura _'He's alive! Of course, he must have used a replacement jutsu to fake his own death!'_

'Naruto,' said Kakashi 'sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that.' He approached them. 'Good job Sasuke. Very smooth.' He looked to Sakura. 'Sakura, while I'm glad you did something, you should have taken a defensive stance. These were experience ninja and in a head to head fight they probably would have killed any one of you. And even if you had been able to defeat one, with no one protecting Tazuna they might have accomplished their objective.'

'Right.' said Sakura 'Sorry sensei.'

 **'** **Oh so when Sasuke gets aggressive he's "very smooth" but when I do it I should take a defensive stance.'** grumbled Inner Sakura **'What the hell kind of logic is that.'**

Sakura ignored her Inner self. Still, Naruto was looking really upset and conflicted. The poor kid had nearly been killed and had frozen up. He'd always presented himself as a rival to Sasuke, even though he could never keep up.

'Hey,' said Sasuke 'you're not hurt are you? Scaredy cat?'

It was the grin that did it. The sort of expression made by someone who thinks the whole world revolves around them and that they are addressing someone lower than an ant. Maybe it was her frustration at Kakashi, or maybe the adreneline still pumping through her veins.

Whatever the reason Sakura punched Sasuke in the face. The boy reeled beneath the force of the blow. His feet were knocked off the ground and as he landed he slid back several feet. 'Hey, your not hurt are you?' asked Sakura 'Jerk! Come on Naruto, let's go.'

Naruto got up.

'Naruto!' said Kakashi, in a voice you never wanted to disobey. 'Stand still. These ninja have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly. You have to open the wound and remove it. It's in your blood, so don't move around. That spreads the poison.'

Naruto looked on his hand and realized he'd been scratched. He looked at it fearfully.

'By the way, Mr. Tazuna.' said Kakashi in a cold voice.

'Yeah, what?' asked Tazuna.

'We need to talk.' said Kakashi.

Without saying anything else he tied the ninja up around a tree and then looked to Tazuna. 'These are chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack. They keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice.'

'How did you know about their ambush, Sensei?' asked Sakura.

'A puddle.' said Kakashi 'On a clear day. When it hasn't rained in weeks?'

Sakura flinched. She should have told him.

'In that case,' said Tazuna 'why'd you leave it for the genin to do the fighting?'

'I could have taken them out quickly.' admitted Kakashi. 'But then I'd have learned nothing. I had to know who their target was and what they were after.'

'What are you getting at?' asked Tazuna.

'This:' said Kakashi 'I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja. Or if they were after you. The master bridge builder. When you put in your request you asked for standard protection, from robbers and highwaymen. You didn't say there were ninja looking for you. Hunting you down. If we knew this it would be a B rank mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we'd be facing ninja we'd have staffed for the cost and charged for a B mission.

Apparently you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission.'

They were so dead if they kept going. 'We're genin.' said Sakura 'This is too advanced for our level of training. We should go back. And I really think we need to treat Naruto's wound and get the poison out as soon as possible. Back in our village we can take him to a doctor.'

Kakashi looked at Naruto keenly. Then up again. 'Naruto's hand could become a problem. I guess we should go back to the village.'

And then Naruto stabbed himself in the hand, opening the wound. He turned away, groaning in pain. 'Why am I so different? Why am I always…'

'Naruto, stop that!' said Sakura 'What are you doing?'

'I worked so hard to get here!' said Naruto 'Pushing myself until it hurt! Training alone for hours! Anything to get stronger! To reach my dream! I will never back down again and let someone else rescue me!

I will never run away! And I will not lose to Sasuke! Upon this wound I make this pledge: Believe it! Bridgebuilder, I'll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai knife!' He whirled around. 'A real ninja never gives up and neither will I! Don't you guys worry about me, I'll be fine! Now let's go!'

'Naruto,' said Kakashi 'that was really cool, how you took the poison out and all, but if you lose anymore blood, you're going to die.'

Dead silence.

'Good idea to stop the bleeding now.' said Kakashi 'Seriously.'

Naruto started to panic. 'No! No! No! I'm too young for it to all end like this!'

'Show me your hand.' said Kakashi.

'Naruto,' said Sakura 'you have a self abusive personality disorder. It's called maschochism.' Then she saw the wound. Or the lack of a wound. There was blood, but she couldn't make out any injury. Then Kakashi covered it with a cloth and wrapped it up.

'You have a really serious look on your face.' said Naruto 'Is everything okay?'

'Uh, yeah.' said Kakashi 'You should be fine.' He stood up and looked to them. 'Well Tazuna, Naruto certainly seems to want to keep going. However Naruto isn't the only member of this group. So I suppose I should ask each of you what you think?'

'I already told you sensei.' said Sakura 'We barely survived our run in with those chunin. Things could get even worse soon.'

'And you Sasuke?'

'Sakura can head back if she wants.' said Sasuke 'I'm going.'

'Well that is two against one Sakura.' mused Kakashi 'I suppose we'll continue on then. Relax Sakura, for all we know, these chunin might be the absolute best they had.'

* * *

This was the kind of meeting the man hated most. Once he had been one of the most trusted servants of his village and the most feared. Now he was merely feared, having long ago left that place behind him to seek mercenary work. And yet of all the employers he'd worked for in his mercenary career, he hated the man before him the most. A fat, arrogant and honorless businessman with no strength of his own. Without all his money he'd be dead in a week.

And yet this worm thought he had the right to talk down to him.

'You failed? You failed?!' roared his employer. 'What is this, amateur night?! I paid big money for you! I thought you were supposed to be hot shot assassins!'

Zabuza drew up his sword and put it to the speakers throat. The small man at once shrank back in fear. He was trembling. A pathetic little monster, wasn't he?

'Stop whining.' said Zabuza 'This time, I'll go personally. This sword will be the last thing he ever sees.'

'You sure about that?' asked a man 'Apparently Tazuna has a high level ninja guarding him. And since your first attempt attempt failed he'll be expecting you. Waiting. Watching. It'll take someone with very advanced skills.'

'Who do you think you're dealing with?' he asked 'I am Zabuza Momochi. The Demon of the Hidden Mist.'

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

So yeah, this chapter wasn't very different from canon. The most notable event is the point where they decide to take a vote. That event does not happen in the original series, it merely assumes that they continued on. The problem with this is that it would be a perfectly logical decision for them to turn back at that point. And we never get Kakashi's thought process on the subject.

Even so, enjoy.


	6. The Assassin in the Mist

**Chapter Six: The Assassin of the Mist**

Later that day Sakura had her defense beaten down and was struck in the face by Naruto. She reeled beneath the blow and hit the ground hard. Naruto stood over her and fell to a kneel by her. 'Sakura are you okay?'

'Yeah,' said Sakura 'I'm fine. You win. Again.' He'd been winning a lot of matches lately.

'Good Naruto, you're improving a great deal.' said Kakashi 'I can almost call your taijutsu sufficient. Sakura, you have a serious problem with your fighting style. You keep trying to match Naruto for strength. Before your greater skill allowed you to match him, but now that he's closing the gap you are losing more and more often.

Why do you think that is?'

'I… Naruto has a lot more chakra than I do.' said Sakura 'It means he has much more brute strength. Now that he is using that strength better I'm getting overwhelmed.'

'Exactly.' said Kakashi, before pointing to the side of the road. 'Look over there Sakura, what do you see?'

Sakura saw a field of long grass. In the center was a huge, gnarled old tree. A vast gust of wind blew through her hair. The tree stood tall while the grass swayed in it. 'I see a field of grass with a tree in the middle.'

'Yes.' said Kakashi 'The tree is tall and naturally stronger than the blades of grass. When the wind blows against it, it can survive and prosper despite the force. But the grass, it doesn't have the same natural strength. If it remained static it would break and snap.

So it doesn't. The grass doesn't resist the wind, it bends with it, allowing it to pass over it. Do you understand what I'm saying?'

'I don't get it.' said Naruto.

'That's unfortunate, Naruto, but I wasn't trying to teach you.' said Kakashi.

'Um, I think you're telling me that I put too much emphesis on static defense and should try to roll with the punches more.' said Sakura.

'Good.' said Kakashi 'You simply don't have the same level of chakra as Naruto or Sasuke. While there are ways to increase your chakra reserves, until you do that it is for the best if you try to outmenuever your opponents, rather than facing them in head on combat.' He looked to Naruto. 'Now Naruto, after you take five I want you and Sasuke to spar.'

As usual Sakura was getting left out. She watched the fight for a bit with Tazuna. Eventually she lay back and watched the darkening sky. Gradually the stars came out and she looked at them curiously.

'Hey Sakura, how's it going?' said Naruto quickly.

'Good.' said Sakura, looking up. 'How'd your fight with Sasuke go?'

'I uh…' began Naruto, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

'Lost?' asked Sakura.

'Yeah.' said Naruto, looking up. 'You looking at the stars?'

'Pretty much.' said Sakura 'Kind of wondering why I became a ninja in the first place, actually.'

'You don't remember why?' asked Naruto.

'Yeah, it sounds strange doesn't it?' asked Sakura 'My mom wanted me to be a painter. She said I had a lot of talent, but Ino was going to the academy so I wanted to go to. I kind of wonder sometimes if that was the only reason.' She pulled herself up. 'I'm going to sleep.'

'Right.' said Naruto. 'Uh, good night.'

The next morning they continued their journey. Tazuna led them down to the shore and they found a boat waiting for them. A man i a straw hat looked up at them as a mist arose. 'Are these them, Tazuna?'

'Yes.' said Tazuna. 'These are the bodyguards I went to get.'

'Right.' said the man 'Climb aboard. It's a misty night, so that's to our benefit. But we need to get across before it clears up. Gato has ships watching the coast and I'm not in the mood for an armed reception.'

They got on quickly and off they went into the mist. Naruto sat at the front of the boat, sitting silent. Sasuke and Sakura were in the middle with Kakashi and Tazuna near the back. Sakura looked around nervously as they pressed ever onwards. 'This fog is so thick.' mused Sakura 'You can't see anything.'

Naruto sniffed the air but said nothing. Once or twice they saw the shadow of a larger vessel in the mist and the boatman became very wary. But no one confronted them. On and on it went. Finally the boat man spoke. 'The bridge isn't far now. Our destination is just ahead. The Land of Waves.'

Then they saw it. The bridge towered over their small boat. It looked like something made by giants and Sakura had the feeling that breaking it would be no small task. This was what Tazuna wanted to build? But why did he need them anyway? Who had sent those ninjas after them?

'Wow!' said Naruto 'It's huge!'

'Quiet!' snapped the boatman 'I told you, no noise. Why do you think we're traveling like this, huh? No engine? Moving through the dense fog? So they don't see or hear us.'

'Mr. Tazuna.' said Kakashi 'Before we reach the pier I want to ask you something. The men who are after you. I need to know why. If you don't tell us I'm afraid I'll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore.'

Tazuna's straw hat overshadowed his eyes. He looked very contemplative.

'I have no choice but to tell you.' said Tazuna. 'No, I want you to know the truth. Like you said; This is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man, who casts a very long and deadly shadow.'

'A deadly shadow?' asked Kakashi 'Who is it?'

'You know him.' said Tazuna 'At least I'm sure you've heard his name before. He is one of the wealthiest men in the world. The shipping magnet Gato.'

'Gato?' asked Kakashi. 'Of Gato Transport? He's a business leader, everyone knows him.'

'Gato is a very powerful tycoon from a rich company, that's true.' said Tazuna 'But below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to take over businesses and nations he sells drugs and contraband, using gangs and ninja. It was one year ago when Gato first set his sight on the land of waves. He came to our island and used his vast wealth to take total control of our transport and shipping.

Anyone who tried to stand in his way simply "disappeared." In an island a man who controls the sea controls everything. Finance, government, our very lives. But there is one thing he fears: The bridge. When it is complete it will join us to the land and that will break his control.

I am the bridge builder.'

'So that's it.' said Sakura 'Since you're in charge of the bridge you're standing in this gangsters way.'

'That means those guys we fought in the forest were working for Gato.' reflected Sasuke.

Naruto pretended to be wise and thoughtful. Kakashi looked at Tazuna seriously. 'I don't understand. If you knew he was dangerous; knew he'd send ninja to eliminate you, why did you hide that from us?'

'Because the land of waves is a small impoverished nation.' said Tazuna. 'Even our nobles have little money. The common people who are building this bridge cannot pay for an A or B ranked mission. It's too expensive.'

'Hang on a second.' said Sakura 'This place is a major port. If Gato has only been here for a year how it is possible that he could have reduced everyone to paupers that quickly.'

'Many people are afraid to stand up to him.' said Tazuna 'Gato took control of all the food sources and jacked up prices on essentials. Citizens of the Land of Waves have to pay obscene prices just to eat. Most of the food produced is sold abroad.

Some of the better off citizens got together to provide me with funds but, much of their contribution was spent on getting the materials for the bridge. I also had to repair several attempts at sabotage after I refused to sell it. There are also medical costs for those who were injured by his thugs in "accidents", paying the bribes for getting across the sea, and many others.

By the time I got to Konoha too much of the money had been spent to pay for an A or B mission.'

'Sensei,' said Sakura 'are you sure we should be here?'

'If you end the mission when you drop me ashore,' said Tazuna 'there will be no bridge. They'll assassinate me before I reach home.' He paused. 'But don't feel bad about that. Of course my sweet little grandson will be upset. He'll cry. And my daughter will blame the Ninja of the Hidden Leaves, denouncing you for abandoning her Father and forcing her to live her life in sorrow.'

Everyone sighed. He was guilt tripping them.

'Ah well,' said Tazuna 'it's not your fault. Forget it.'

'Well,' said Kakashi 'I guess we have no other choice. We'll have to keep guarding you.'

'Oh I'm very grateful.' said Tazuna.

This was insane. They'd nearly all gotten killed and now they were going on. Sakura had to talk to sensei about this.

'We're approaching the shore.' said the boatman. 'Tazuna we've been very fortunate. No one has noticed us so far.'

The boat went on in silence and they shot undernear a bridge and into the bay. They saw many strange trees growing up from the water. Along the shore there were many buildings of a run down nature. The mist cleared quickly and they were now in plain sight.

Sakura half expected to see ninjas waiting for them on the shore. But none were to be see.

 _'_ _Of course none are to be seen.'_ muttered Sakura _'They won't attack us in the open. They'll come on us in some place where no one can help us and cut us all to pieces. I hope Sensei knows what he is doing. No, what am I thinking. Of course he does.'_

They reached the pier and set foot on it. Tazuna looked to the boat man.

'That's as far as I go.' said the man. 'Sorry.'

'Right.' said Tazuna 'Thank you for taking such a risk.'

'Be careful.' said the boatman, before gunning the engine and shooting off.

'Okay.' said Tazuna 'Take me to my home. And I mean get me there in one piece.'

'Right.' said Kakashi.

And they were off. As they walked Sakura came up to Kakashi. 'Sensei, I really don't like this. We barely made it through those guys from before. What if someone even stronger comes after us?'

'I wouldn't worry, Sakura.' said Kakashi 'Chances are we've already seen the best Gato has to throw at us. It's more than likely that it'll be common thugs after this.'

'What do you mean, Sensei?' asked Sakura.

'Think about it, Sakura.' said Kakashi 'Tazuna is the greatest threat to Gato's reign here. And his best chance to kill him was with the first attack. So it would make sense to send the best ninjas he has, no?'

'But what if he has some even stronger ninjas in his employ?' asked Sakura.

'He might have others,' admitted Kakashi 'but they will probably all be chunin or lower.'

'What makes you so sure?' asked Sakura.

'Think about it, Sakura.' said Kakashi 'Where do you think Gato is getting his ninjas?'

'Um,' Sakura paused 'probably not from any village. I mean if a village were openly associated with something like this and it got out it could be a PR disaster.'

'That and the person benefiting from this arrangement is Gato. Even he is only deriving a short term benefit from this kind of exploitation. Eventually if no one stops it, the Land of Waves will be worthless and the entire economy will suffer. So what does that mean?'

Sakura thought about it. 'Well it means that whatever ninja is working for Gato is probably a rogue. Someone doing mercenary work while on the run.'

'Exactly.' said Kakashi 'You're quite sharp Sakura. Now we already faced two Chunin and I handled them easily. What is the next step up from chunin?'

'Jonin.' said Sakura.

'Yes.' said Kakashi 'Jonin ninjas are the best of the best. They have access to village secrets that lower ranks can only dream about. They are well paid and among the most trusted of a village's ninja. A chunin or a genin who breaks with their village might slip under the radar. But a jonin will always be a high priority target and so will be constantly on the run unless…'

'Unless they defect over to another village.' said Sakura 'So a jonin has a lot to lose by betraying their village and even if they do, they'll just be snapped up by one of the other villages, even if they aren't killed.'

'Right.' said Kakashi 'Chunin and genin don't have the same importance so it makes sense that Gato might have a few in his employ. But even a man with Gato's resources would have difficulty hiring a jonin.' He halted. 'Although, they were Hidden Mist ninjas we defeated…'

He looked suddenly worried.

'What is it, Sensei?' asked Sakura.

'Nothing.' said Kakashi 'Just a theory. Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Keep your eyes open though, we might face some minor threats.'

* * *

Kakashi was suddenly far more concerned than he let on. He'd mulled things over and realized that there was one kind of jonin who might work for a man like Gato. A jonin who wanted money for a goal and had every intention of returning to his village as a conquerer. A jonin who commanded the loyalty of at least several rogue ninjas of the Hidden Mist. A jonin who made a habit of sending the body parts of the Hunter Nins who went after him back to their home villages in packages.

Zabuza.

No. There was no proof of that. The world was a big place and there were many ways for a man like Zabuza to make a living. It was probably nothing.

But he kept a hand near his kunai anyway.

One thing was for sure. If Gato had a jonin level ninja at his disposal he'd send them next.

Suddenly Naruto rushed ahead of the group and looked either way. After a moment he turned and hurled a kunai into the bushes. 'Over there!'

Dead silence.

'It was just a mouse.' said Naruto.

'Mouse?' asked Sakura 'Everyone knows you're just showing off.'

'Naruto,' said Kakashi 'those are kunai knives. They are dangerous.'

'Stop trying to scare me you scruffy little dwarf!' roared Tazuna.

'Hey, is someone hiding over there?' asked Naruto 'No wait, they're over there!' And he hurled another knife. Kakashi noticed something.

Naruto was making a fool of himself again.

'Naruto,' said Sakura 'stop trying to murder innocent woodland creatures and keep moving!'

'Someone is following us!' said Naruto 'I mean it!'

'Yeah right.' said Sakura 'Stop acting like a kid. This is serious.'

Kakashi made his way forward and Sakura saw the vicious stalker Naruto had caught. It was an innocent little rabbit now scared senseless by the tree. Great.

'Naruto, look what you did!' said Sakura.

Naruto ran forward and hugged the creature. 'I'm sorry little rabbit, I'm sorry.'

'All this fuss over a rabbit?'

 _'_ _That's a snow rabbit.'_ mused Kakashi. _'But the color… they only have white fur during winter… When the days are short and there is little sunlight. That rabbit was raised indoors, away from the light. Which could only be for one purpose. A replacement technique._

 _So they are already here.'_

Then out of nowhere a giant blade spun towards them, aimed to kill!

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

You know something I've noticed while writing fanfics? Almost all shonen anime have a lot more content in a lot less time in their first few arcs. As they go on it becomes possible to summarize entire episodes into a single chapter.

Whatever. Enjoy.

There were a bunch of alterations here. Among them I changed it so that Kakashi found it highly unlikely that a jonin would show up, rather than being certain of it.


	7. The Oath of Pain

**Chapter Seven: The Oath of Pain**

Kakashi shouted a warning and they responded. Sasuke rolled away. Naruto ducked. Sakura pulled Tazuna down and all of it was just in time for a massive doublehanded blade to spin over their heads and implant itself in a tree. A moment later and all three of them would have lost their heads.

A ninja landed on the handle of the blade as it stood sticking out of the tree. He was gigantic, with huge muscles. He wore no shirt and his skin was tan. His hair was short and black and he wore white bandages over the lower part of his face.

 _'_ _Here it is.'_ thought Naruto _'My chance to shine. Believe it! I'm ready this time! I'm not going to lose out to Sasuke!''_

'Well, well,' said Kakashi 'if it isn't Zabuza Momochi. Ex leader of the Hidden Mist Assassination unit.'

 _'_ _Rogue ninja?'_ scoffed Naruto _'Whatever. Nothing is gonna stop me.'_ And he rushed forward.

But a hand blocked him. Kakashi looked at him with one hard eye. 'You're in the way. Get back.'

Naruto stepped back. 'But why?'

'He's not like those other ninja.' said Kakashi. 'He's in a whole other league. If he's our opponent I'll need this.' And he drew up his headband to reveal a flaming red eye. 'This could be treacherous.'

'Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye.' said Zabuza 'Did I get that right? Your profile was in our bingo book. The man who copied over a thousand jutsu. We had standing orders to kill you on sight.'

Sasuke looked up in shock at those words.

'It's too bad, eh?' asked Zabuza 'But you'll have to hand over the old man.'

 _'_ _Sharingan? What is that?'_ asked Naruto to himself.

'Now quick!' said Kakashi 'Manji formation. Protect the bridgebuilder and stay out of this fight. I taught you teamwork. Now it's time to use it. I'm ready.'

'Well,' said Zabuza, turning round. 'looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honor.'

'Everyone keeps saying Sharingan.' said Naruto 'What is it?'

'Sharingan is a rare power that resides in the eyes.' said Sakura 'The wielder can instantly comprehend any ganjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu use it for themselves. But this can't be right. The Uchiha clan are the only ones' who should be able to use it, and Sasuke is the last.'

Before anyone could say anything a great mist began to arise around them, obscuring them from view.

'Enough talking.' said Zabuza.

Then he moved. One moment the sword was there on the tree and he was standing on it, the next he was surging towards Tazuna. Naruto rushed to defend him, as did the others. But they wouldn't get there in time. There was a clash of blades and then Zabuza slid back a few feet. Kakashi was between them, a kunai in hand, and they took their places.

'So I'll have to eliminate you first, eh, Kakashi?' asked Zabuza.

Then he surged away onto a nearby lake and landed on the water Taking a stance the wind began to blow, yet the mist stayed. Naruto could feel something building in the air.

'Ninja art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!' cried Zabuza.

The mist grew ever stronger and soon the whole world was white. Zabuza could not be seen. Kakashi was hardly visible ahead of them. Kakashi moved forward gradually. Outwardly he seemed relaxed, but Naruto could tell he was worried.

Looking into the mist Naruto began to get worried. It seemed like Zabuza could come at them from anywhere. From behind, from above, from underground. If Kakashi sensei was this worried, what could Naruto hope to do against someone like that?

No, Naruto had to do this. He had to.

The mist got still thicker. There was a sound of footsteps, or was that Naruto's imagination?

Soon Kakashi was out of sight. They were alone. No, no he was probably still out there, just hiding or something.

'Eight points.' said a voice. 'Laryx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Now, which will be my attack point?'

Gradually Kakashi came into view. He began to channel a jutsu, and Naruto felt suddenly like he couldn't breathe. One tiny movement, and all of them could die. Sasuke looked just a worried and that got Naruto even more worried. Sakura looked terrified too. Somewhere in the mist was Zabuza and in front of them was Kakashi.

Two jonin fully intent on killing eachother. It was like they were being choked already.

'Sasuke,' said Kakashi 'calm down. I'll protect you with my life. All of you. I will not allow my comrades to die. Trust me,'

Their heart slowed its beating. Their breath slowed. Then another voice spoke. 'I wouldn't be so sure.'

And Zabuza was there amongst them. He swung his sword and Naruto knew this was it. They scattered, knowing it would be too late. But the blow never came. Naruto looked up from where he had ducked for cover and saw that Kakashi had surged forward with his kunai.

A kunai that was sticking out of Zabuza's chest. He'd done it.

Wait. Why was Zabuza bleeding water?

Then Naruto saw another Zabuza. The real one. 'Sensei, behind you!'

It was two late. The great blade fell like a guilotine and Kakashi, the copycat ninja, was cut in two at the waist. Yet even as the body fell, it dissipated into water. A moment later a blade was put to Zabuza's throat.

'Don't move.' said Kakashi. 'You're finished.

Even in the mist sensei had copied Zabuza's water clone thingy and used it against him. Kakashi sensei was awesome! 'Alright!' cheered Naruto.

Then Zabuza began to laugh, 'Finished? You really don't get it do you? Your technique is nothing but a crass immitation. I'll never be defeated by a mere copycat ninja like you.' He started to laugh louder. 'You are full of surprises though. You'd already copied my water clone jutsu when you made your little speech.

Nice try.'

Then Zabuza dispersed into water and another Zabuza appeared behind him. 'But I'm not that easy to fool.'

A blade was swung. Kakashi ducked and Zabuza's strike went wide. But even as he was exposed Zabuza used the momentum of his swing to bring around a foot and kick Kakashi in the face, sending him flying backward. Kakashi fell backwards and landed in the water.

Zabuza surged after him, only to slow to a halt before he could get there. Why? Then Naruto saw the makibishi spikes all over the ground. 'Trying to slow me down? Foolish.'

Kakashi surfaced. He seemed to be trying to get out when Zabuza landed on the water behind him and began making hand signs. 'Fool! Water Prison Jutsu!'

'No!' cried Kakashi.

But he was too late. The water pulled Kakashi into the air and formed around him in a perfect sphere. Zabuza had one hand on it. 'This prison is made of water, but it's stronger than steel. It's hard to fight when you can't move. So much for the great Kakashi. I'll finish you off later.

But first, you're little friends will have to be eliminated.' He raised one hand. 'Water clone jutsu!'

Zabuza laughed as a clone formed before them. Naruto felt colder than he ever had as the guy who beat Kakashi approached them. 'You think wearing a headband makes you a ninja. When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't phaze you, then you may be called a ninja. When you've become so deadly your profile is entered into my ninja book, then you may have earned the title ninja.

But to call upstarts like you ninja is a joke!'

The mist arose and Zabuza disappeared again. Then he was in front of him. Naruto staggered backward just in time for his blade to miss him. But the edge caught his headband, the headband Iruka sensei had given him, and sent it flying into the air. Naruto staggered back.

Zabuza seemed to tower over him.

'You're just brats.' said Zabuza.

'Listen!' said Kakashi 'Get the bridgebuilder and run! You can't win this fight! He's using all his power to keep me in this prison, so he can only fight you with his water clone! But the clone can't go far from his real body! If you get away from him, he can't follow, now run!'

'Come on, let's go!' said Sakura 'You heard him!'

'Run away?' asked Sasuke 'That became unthinkable the moment he got caught.'

'He's a jonin!' said Sakura 'We can't beat him!'

'If we try to flee no matter how far we run he'll hunt us down and wipe us out!' said Sasuke 'In the end, if we're on our own, we're finished. Our only chance of survival is to rescue Kakashi. We've got to do it!'

And he charged at Zabuza, hurling shurikens. Sakura charged with him. Naruto tried to move, but he couldn't.

Zabuza's water clone batted them aside with absolute disinterest. Sasuke leaped into the air and surged towards him stabbing, but Zabuza caught him by the throat with ease and began to squeeze. 'Too easy.'

Sakura rushed at Zabuza, but the man hurled Sasuke so that he slammed into her, sending both tumbling head over heels. Sakura got up painfully. This Zabuza guy had beaten both of the others so easily. And he was just standing there. He could have killed them at any time.

Naruto had to get away. Every fiber of his being demanded he run, run and flee for his life. If he didn't he'd die. Kakashi sensei himself had ordered it. Old Man Hokage himself would say there was nothing else he could have done. He began to get to his feet to do just that. Then he saw the bandage on his hand.

He'd sworn never to run again. That was his ninja way. If he quit now he'd be a liar. He'd never be Hokage. He'd have proven everyone who talked down to him right.

He stood up, shaking, trying to get ahold of himself. He forced himself to stand still and tall. He would not lose to Sasuke. He'd sworn an oath of pain. He wouldn't run away.

It was the most terrifying thing he'd ever done but he managed it. He charged at Zabuza with a battlecry. Wait a minute what was he thinking? This guy had a sword bigger than Kakashi sensei and Naruto was going at him with a kunai?

He ducked low just in time to avoid being bisected. He too a blow to the face from one of Zabuza's knees and was sent sprawling, but he felt his hand hold what he had been seeking. Reeling back he pulled up Iruka sensei's headband. His headband.

'What are you thinking charging in by yourself you idiots?!' asked Sakura 'We're only genin! We can't defeat a jonin on our own! We need a plan!'

'I needed this.' said Naruto, putting on the headband before looking at Zabuza. 'Hey you, the freak without eyebrows. Put this in your bingobook. The ninja that will become Hokage of the Village… the Village Hidden in the Leaves…

He never backs down. His name is-'

'Time's up.' said Zabuza behind him.

Naruto ducked on reflex and nearly lost his head. He rolled away just in time to avoid being cut in half and hurled a kunai at Zabuza which he caught and hurled at Tazuna. Sakura leaped in the way and pushed the bridgebuilder down. The blade shot over them, but sliced through Sakura's shoulder and pinned Tazuna's hat into the ground.

Zabuza was on him in a moment, bringing down his sword to cleave both in two. Sakura raised her kunai and blocked it, but was forced to her knee and with another strike lost her weapon. Sasuke came at Zabuza from behind and promptly took a backhand to the face, sending him tumbling head over heels to land with a crash.

'What the hell!' said Naruto 'I was talking!'

'I am not being paid to stand around while a collection of untried children make speeches and come up with ridiculously convoluted plans to free my captive.' said Zabuza 'I'm here to kill the bridgebuilder and no one else. If you run right now I will not hunt you. I have no interest in fighting you. You are beneath me. When I was your age I already killed hundreds.'

Hundreds? He'd killed hundreds? No, don't think about it.

'Like hell!' said Naruto 'I'm not letting you kill the old man! I'm going to beat you and free my sensei! Believe it! Now listen up Sasuke, I've got a plan.' He then leaped away just in time to avoid being cut in two.

He backed away as Zabuza loomed over him, hoisting his sword over one shoulder. His eyes were narrowed and Naruto had the feeling he was smiling. Then he started laughing. 'Well, if you've got a plan then I suppose I'd better kill you before you can tell him what it is.'

Naruto gulped. This was gonna suck.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura watched as Naruto ducked and weaved while Zabuza moved to cut him into ribbons. The jonin slashed and attacked with ease and it was all Naruto could do to survive. Then he multiplied into dozens of clones and began to attack Zabuza, who quickly began picking them off with absolute ease.

Sasuke moved to enter but Sakura caught him by the shoulder.

'No, don't go after the clone!' she said 'Naruto is distracting him. Go after the real Zabuza! He can't take his arm off that sphere!'

'Right,' said Sasuke 'good thinking Sakura.'

He charged at the real Zabuza, throwing kunai and shuriken, but the man dodged nonchalantly. When Sasuke got into melee he began to use one hand, unarmed, to fend off the boy. Zabuza was hardly even looking up.

Naruto was running out of clones. And Zabuza wasn't letting them summon more. Sakura realized that what happened next was up to her. She made the signs.

'Shadow Clone Jutsu!'

She couldn't created dozens like Naruto. All she could make was two. But that would have to be enough. The three of them charged at Zabuza even as he knocked Sasuke back, hurling daggers. Zabuza's foot went down to crush Sasuke to the ground so hard he spat blood. At the same time his one good hand moved at lightning speed to catch one kunai and knock the rest back.

Then as they closed in he reached for his sword. Sakura had an idea and lagged behind her clones. As she did so Zabuza brought around his sword to destroy both. But she used another jutsu.

A replacement jutsu.

She was targetting Zabuza's sword.

Suddenly she was being swung through the air by her leg. Zabuza looked up in surprise at her. Before he could react Sakura had drawn a kunai and was stabbing it down toward Zabuza's hand. She was inches away-

Then she felt her leg wrench and screamed as she was flung across the ground and landed with a crash. The agony of her leg was horrible and she tried to suppress the pain. Looking up, she saw that her leg had been wrenched at an unnnatural angle.

And then Zabuza was there, descending toward her with his blade.

Sakura closed her eyes.

There was a scream and blood spattered.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Okay I'd just like to respond to a comment which was made by a guest here regarding the story. Believe it or not I'm not bashing Sasuke. That speech Kakashi gave him was straight out of the anime. The only reason it is harsher is because Sasuke is the only one who screwed up.

As for it being a three man team, Sakura never contributes ANYTHING to Team 7 until the Chunin exams and then drops off the map until the next series. Team 7 may as well consist of Naruto, Sasuke and a blow up doll until that point. Since Kakashi was pleased with their teamwork before then I'm going to assume that Kakashi considered a two man effort acceptable. Either that or he's sexist.

Moreover, they did cooperate with Sasuke to get the bells, Sakura timed her attack so it took place while Sasuke was fighting Kakashi. Kakashi would have passed all three of them, but Sasuke decided to steal Naruto's bell before he could, destroying the group dynamic. This pissed Kakashi off and caused him to fail Sasuke.

Anyway I don't consider Sasuke a bad character. I just feel that he got way too much focus at the expense of much more interesting characters. I also feel he should have been killed off, but that's just me.

Also keep in mind that in this continuity Sakura doesn't **like** Sasuke. So she is completely unsympathetic to his plight. We're talking about a girl who broke off her friendship with her best friend for years simply because they were after the same guy, a guy she didn't even know. Sakura is not a very good person. She's incredibly mean to Naruto, even though he arguably has it far worse than Sasuke, and constantly mistreats people around her in her singleminded pursuit of her crush.

Sakura, in short, is a huge jerk. It's just that in this continuity she's a jerk to Sasuke instead of Naruto and Ino. The reason she is more sympathetic in this storyline is because Ino is on another team. This forces Sakura to focus on things other than romance. Also, Sasuke is a pretentious prick who takes himself way too seriously. Tragic backstories are nothing new in Naruto and I see no reason why Sasuke should get special treatment.

On a separate note, Kakashi Vs Zabuza is a really cool fight. That said it takes a lot longer than it really should have, thanks to all the exposition. And there are way too many lengthy conversations in the middle of said fight.

One of the problems I had is that it is my goal to make Sakura a contributing member of the team. The problem is that in this fight Naruto and Sasuke pretty much had everything handled with their plan. So my solution?

Just have Zabuza beat the crap out of them without giving them time to plan. I'd say it worked out well.

Oh and just for the record, I condensed about three episodes into eight pages. This is what I was talking about last chapter.


	8. The Hunter Ninja

**Chapter Eight: The Hunter Ninja**

It took a moment for Sakura to realize the end hadn't come. Looking up she saw Kakashi standing over her. One gauntleted hand was blocking Zabuza's blade, though it was bleeding and the two were facing eachother. Kakashi looked pissed. So pissed that Sakura momentarily forgot about the agony in her leg.

'Kakashi… sensei…' she said.

'Sakura,' said Kakashi 'you and the others did well. You've all grown, haven't you?'

'I can't move my leg.' said Sakura.

'Sasuke, take care of Sakura.' said Kakashi. 'Don't move her, she's seriously hurt and you'll only make things worse. Naruto, protect Tazuna.'

Zabuza chuckled. 'I got distracted and lost my grip on the water prison.'

'Don't flatter yourself.' said Kakashi 'You weren't distracted. You were forced to let go. Your technique worked on me once. But it won't work again. So; what's it gonna be?'

Zabuza scoffed and began to press the blade. Kakashi groaned as he struggled against it. Then he shoved Zabuza back and drew his kunai. The two of them slashed, ducked and weaved around eachother, neither able to match the other. Soon their battle moved to the river itself as they walked upon the water, their weapons flashing in the fading mist.

Finally they separated and Zabuza began to make hand signs. At the same time Kakashi did the same, mirroring him perfectly. They chanted in low voices, echoing eachother as chakra filled the air.

'Water style:' both cried **'WATER DRAGON JUTSU!'**

Water rose from the river in the form of two dragon heads. They coiled and clashed against eachother, roaring. As they did so massive waves arose on the river, splashing over the trees and bushes. Sakura was shoved backward, and thought she would be washed away. But Sasuke caught her and sheltered her from the current.

'So many hand signs and he mirrored them all perfectly.' said Sasuke.

The dragons were now hundreds of feet in the air and striving against eachother. It was as if two tidal waves had arisen on opposites sides of the river and were clashing against eachother. Both were massively powerful, and neither could defeat the other. Yet in the end it was Zabuza's that beat down Kakashi's and descended toward him.

Kakashi leaped out of the water and the water dragon landed with a fraction of the power it might have had. The assault had been far weaker than before. If it had hit with full strength they would have been all dead.

No sooner did it fall and Zabuza and Kakashi rushed at eachother to begin fighting again. Yet with every blow struck Kakashi moved like a perfect mirror to Zabuza. The assassin began to look unnerved and leaped back to gain some distance, before they circled eachother perfectly.

Both moved to make the same hand sign.

'He's not just following him.' said Tazuna 'He moves the same way at the same time.'

'…going to do next?' asked Kakashi.

Zabuza flinched, as though Kakashi had finished a thought he'd been having in the first place.

 _'_ _Is he reading Zabuza's mind?'_ wondered Sakura.

Whether he was or not Zabuza was looking more and more unnerved. Kakashi was trying to psyche out his opponent. 'It makes you furious, doesn't it?' asked Kakashi.

'Ha!' said Zabuza 'All you're doing is copying me! Like a monkey!'

'You can't beat me with cheap tricks!' Both said at once. 'I'll crush you!'

'When I finish with you you'll never open that monkey mouth again!' roared Zabuza as he made hand signs. Then he stopped as a figure appeared behind Kakashi. A figure like Zabuza hmself. 'What? An illusion?'

While he was distracted Kakashi finished the hand signs. 'Water style! Giant vortex jutsu!'

'Impossible!' roared Zabuza.

A massive wave of swirling water arose behind Kakashi and shot towards Zabuza. And this time there was nothing to stop it. It flowed over them and the wind kicked up around them. Water splashed toward Sakura, but Sasuke picked her up and leaped to higher ground. Naruto was behind them with Tazuna.

Then it was over. Looking up Sakura saw Zabuza lying against a tree. He tried to get up but before he could recover several kunai were thrown into him. Kakashi appeared overhead on the tree above, blade in hand. 'You're finished.'

'How?!' snarled Zabuza 'Can you see into the future?!'

'Yes.' said Kakashi, raising the blade. 'This is your last battle. Ever.'

Then two throwing needles shot out of nowhere and caught Zabuza in the neck. The man gasped and fell to the ground, dead. Sakura realized she'd just watched a man die in front of her. A man who murdered people for a living. A ruthless monster. But still human.

And now he was dead.

Standing on a nearby tree branch stood a shinobi. He wore a brown fur coat and had a red and white mask over his face. 'You were right.' he said 'It was his last battle.'

Zabuza was dead. The ninja standing above him had killed him. Naruto stared. They had killed him without a word. A man who moments before had been more powerful than anyone Naruto had seen, a man skilled enough to match Sensei, and now two throwing needles had killed him.

The ninja didn't even seem concerned. Naruto hadn't even been able to fight with his clone.

Kakashi descended from the tree and checked Zabuza's neck. Then he looked up, looking a bit weary. 'No vital signs.'

The ninja bowed. 'Thank you. I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time. Waiting for this chance to finally take him down.'

'By your mask I see you are a tracker ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist.' said Kakashi.

'Impressive.' said the ninja 'You are well informed.'

Naruto leaped between the tracker ninja and Sakura. 'A tracker!'

'Naruto, stop pretending as if you know what that is!' hissed Sakura 'When a rogue ninja breaks away from his village he takes with him all kinds of secrets. Trackers are trained to hunt down these ninja and kill them so their secrets remain secret.'

'That is correct.' said the ninja. 'It was my duty to stop Zabuza.'

This guy was hardly taller than Naruto and his voice was young. They must have been near the same age. But that wasn't fair! Why should Naruto be stuck as a gennin while this guy already had a job fighting jonin like Zabuza.

He ran forward without thinking. 'What is this?! Who do you think you are?'

The boy didn't respond.

'Didn't you hear me?!' asked Naruto.

'Easy Naruto.' said Kakashi 'He's not our enemy.'

'That's not the point!' said Naruto 'Did you see what he did just like that? Zabuza was huge and powerful like some kind of monster, and this kid whose no bigger than me, he brought down Zabuza with one move! Like he was nothing!

I mean, what does that make us? We're just fumbling around! We don't know anything! How can I accept that-'

'Quiet!' snapped Kakashi 'Sakura has been hurt and we've narrowly escaped with our lives. You should be grateful none of us died, and concerned for your injured comrade, not choking on pride because you've been exceeded by someone else!

If you don't know anything it is because you squandered your time in the academy doing the bare minimum to pass.' Naruto recoiled, feeling tears almost coming from his eyes. Kakashi relaxed a put a hand to his head. 'Listen Naruto. Even if you can't accept it, it did happen. In this world there are kids who are younger than you and stronger than me.'

Naruto went silent. He felt like crying. Sensei was right. He'd slept through a lot of classes. He'd slacked off. Ignored lruka sensei in favor of doing pranks. What if he hadn't? What if he'd worked harder? Would he have been as strong as Sasuke? Stronger?

The ninja descended down to Zabuza and Naruto said nothing. He picked up the man he had killed and looked at Naruto. 'Your struggle is over for now. I must deal with the remains. There are many secrets in this body. They must not be allowed to get into the wrong hands. Please excuse me. Farewell.' Then he was surrounded by a gust of wind and he disappeared.

How had he done that?

It didn't matter. Naruto was nothing.

He watched as Kakashi made his way over to Sakura and kneeled down by her. 'Sakura, your left leg has been dislocated. I'm going to have to set it back into place.' He drew out a bit of leather. 'Bite this.'

There was a sickening squelching noise and Sakura screamed through the bit. Then it was over. Kakashi stood unsteadily. 'I used some healing jutsu on you to speed the process. But I don't want you walking on this for a while. Sasuke, you will carry her. Our mission is not yet complete. Let's get the bridgebuilder to his bridge.'

But Tazuna was silent. He was looking at Sakura with a mournful expression on his face. 'I'm a disgrace. You four should go now. I wont stop you.'

'What?' said Naruto 'But what about the bridge?'

'I'm a disgrace.' said Tazuna 'We're a disgrace. The Land of Waves was too scared to stand up for themselves, so we lied to get a gang of children to defend us. Gato can kill me. It's as much as I deserve.'

'What you did was foolish and irresponsible.' said Kakashi 'Had you simply explained the situation directly to the Hokage he might well have helped you as a gesture of goodwill. It is in our interest for the Land of Waves to be prosperous. But it is too late now.

However, giving up now would only compound your error. If you want to redeem yourself, finish the bridge. Break Gato's hold over this land.

Then Sakura's injury and your lies will have meaning.'

'Yes.' said Tazuna 'Yes, you are right of course. We should go. Gato is a very rich man. He might have hired other ninja.'

Suddenly Kakashi stiffened and fell forward to hit the ground face first and lay very still. They ran to him in horror. Was he dead?

Sasuke checked his pulse. 'He's alive. We'll have to carry him too.'

'Hang on.' said Naruto 'Shadow Clone No Jutus!'

He created a series of clones and quickly picked up Kakashi. Sakura got to her feet and was helped by Sasuke. Tazuna led them through the mist, which was now almost completely gone.

It was a horrible journey. Zabuza was gone, but none of them felt as if danger was gone. Every step they took Naruto expected to see some shadowy figure stepping out of the woods to attack them.

If they did the four of them would be easy prey. They were all exhausted from the battle and Sakura was injured. They limped their way along until eventually they came to Tazuna's house.

It was far larger than the others, being a two story building with many rooms. Compared to the one or two room shacks which most people had, it was clear that Tazuna was a man of no small means.

Tazuna knocked on the door.

For a moment nothing happened. Then it slid reveal a blue haired, pretty young woman who looked out at them. 'Father, you've returned.'

'Yes Tsunami.' said Tazuna 'And I've brought with me the ninja as I promised. I owe them my life twice already. Zabuza is dead.'

'That's the best news we've had in months.' said Tsunami.

'Unfortunately some of them were injured.' said Tazuna. 'The pink haired girl is Sakura and she was hurt. Their sensei has collapsed. We'll have to get beds ready for them.'

'Of course.' said Tsunami 'Let's try not to wake Inari, though, he doesn't sleep very well anymore.'

They were brought into the house and beds were set aside for them. They put Kakashi sensei down, and Sakura was allowed to lie down next to him. All five of them were so exhausted that after a quick dinner they all fell asleep very quickly.

When Naruto dreamed, he dreamed of blood and death.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Well here we have another chapter, shorter than the last. By now it has probably become apparent that I'm not just going to criticize Sasuke in this story. All of the characters have serious character flaws which I refuse to sweep under the rug.

In this case Kakashi is harsher on Naruto because in this situation Sakura got hurt. Tazuna's regret is also a result of Sakura getting hurt, since in the original it was largely a clean victory. At least until Kakashi collapsed.


	9. The Forest of Chakra

**Chapter Nine: The Forest of Chakra**

Kakashi awoke.

The last thing he remembered was collapsing to his knees and falling forward. Poison? No, chakra exhaustion was more likely. He'd had to put everything he had into fighting Zabuza, and his water prison had drained him. It had been years since he had fought someone that dangerous.

'Uh,' he said 'I think I overdid it with my sharingan.'

'At least you can walk.' said Sakura 'My leg has been hurting ever since you set it. Tsunami says I shouldn't do any walking on it.'

Kakashi looked over to his student. The pink haired ninja was lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling. That's right. He hadn't had a chance to treat her wound, and he knew that neither Naruto or Sasuke would be able to do so. He hoped no permenant damage had been done.

'Finally awake, huh?' asked a voice. 'Are you alright?'

Looking up he saw a blue haired woman approaching. 'I've been better.' he said. 'It'll be a week before I can move normally.' He sat up.

'It's better if you don't move.' said the woman 'So just lie down.'

'Right.' said Kakashi, before sitting back.

At that moment Naruto, Sasuke and Tazuna entered. 'Look, Sensei is awake.' said Naruto.

'Your sharingan is amazing and everything but if it puts that kind of strain on you maybe it's not worth it.' said Sakura.

'Sorry.' said Kakashi. 'But truth be told it wasn't the sharingan which did it. That water dragon jutsu is incredibly powerful. Zabuza has much greater chakra reserves than I do. If I hadn't caught him with that vortex I would have lost.' He paused. 'Strange. If Zabuza is finished, why do I feel this way?'

'What do you mean?' asked Naruto.

'Something is wrong.' said Kakashi.

He turned the events of the previous day over in his mind again and again. He remembered everything he could. Every moment, every thrust. He remembered the hunter ninja and how they had carried off Zabuza.

Carried off.

Oh damn.

'Hey, are you okay?' asked Naruto 'Sensei?'

'Why would the hunter ninja have carried away Zabuza's body?' asked Kakashi 'A real hunter ninja would have disposed of it on the spot. As quickly as possible. And the weapons he used for the takedown.'

'Throwing needles?' asked Sasuke. 'But-'

'Exactly.' said Kakashi.'None of it adds up.'

'Huh?' said Sakura.

'What are you all yammering about?' asked Tazuna. 'You killed that assassin.'

'Here is the truth:' said Kakashi 'Zabuza is still alive.'

Instantly the mood darkened. 'But we saw his body.' said Naruto 'Believe it!'

'Kakashi sensei,' said Sakura 'you checked him yourself. You said that his heart stopped.'

'His heart did stop.' said Kakashi 'But that was just a temporary state to simulate death. The weapon the assassin used are called senbon. They can pierce the flesh but rarely kill unless they hit a vital organ. Not in the neck. They're modified from needles used for medical procedures like akipuncture. Trackers are taught to know every detail of the human body. Causing the heart to stop temporarily while leaving the body alive is an easy matter for them.

First, he carried Zabuza's body away, even though it is heavier than he is.

Second, he used senbon which have a precise effect, but which are rarely fatal. From these two factors we can conclude that the tracker wasn't trying to kill Zabuza. He was trying to save him.'

'Come on,' said Tazuna 'you're overthinking this aren't you?'

'Encountering suspicion the ninja does not waver. Hesitation leads to disaster.' said Kakashi 'Every ninja knows this saying. We need to prepare quickly.'

Naruto was smiling. He was actually pleased to hear that Zabuza was alive. Now Naruto had another shot at him.

'Sensei,' said Sakura 'you said we need to prepare quickly. But how can we do that when you can barely move and my leg is still healing.'

Kakashi laughed. 'I can still train you.'

'Hold on,' said Sakura 'a little last minute training won't make us strong enough to fight Zabuza. You could barely defeat him, even with your sharingan! You have to be reasonable about this.'

'Sakura,' said Kakashi 'why was I able to stop Zabuza? Because you all helped me. You've grown.' He looked to Naruto. 'Naruto, you've grown the most.'

'So you noticed Kakashi sensei.' said Naruto 'Now things are going to get better. Believe it.'

'I don't believe it!' snapped a voice 'And nothing's going to be good!'

They looked up to see a young boy wearing a blue and white cap. He was scowling.

'Who are you?' asked Naruto.

'Ah,' said Tazuna 'Inari where have you been?'

Inari ran to him and hugged him. 'Welcome back grandpa.'

'Inari,' said Tsunami 'that was very rude. These ninja helped your grandpa and got him here safely.'

'It's okay, it's okay.' said Tazuna 'I'm rude to them too.'

'Mom, don't you see these people are going to die!' said Inari 'Gato and his men will find them and wipe them out.'

'What did you say, brat?' asked Naruto. 'Listen up; you know what a super ninja is? Well that's me only a lot better. And I'm going to be Hokage! This Gato or Blato or whatever his name is no match for a real hero like me!'

'There's no such thing as a hero.' said Inari 'You're just full of stupid ideas.'

'What did you say?!' roared Naruto, stepping forward, only to be blocked by Sasuke.

'If you want to stay alive you should go back where you came from.' said Inari.

And he stalked out.

'Inari wait.' said Tazuna 'Where are you going?'

'To look out at the ocean.' said Inari 'I want to be alone!'

'Sorry about that.' said Tazuna.

Naruto stalked after the boy.

Naruto walked up the steps. Who did that brat think he was? Naruto was going to put him in his place right now. But as he reached the top he heard sobbing. Coming to the door he peered in and saw the boy looking at a picture and crying.

'No daddy…' gasped Inari 'No…'

Naruto felt ashamed. Closing the door he walked back the way he had come.

* * *

A few minutes later Kakashi stood before his students, propped up on two crutches. Sakura was favoring one leg but standing while Naruto and Sasuke stood at the ready. 'Alright, training starts now. First we will begin with a review of chakra. The ninjas basic source of power. Understanding chakra is essential.'

'We know that.' said Sasuke.

'He's right.' said Naruto 'A long time ago we learned about, uh… katra.'

'Chakra.' said Kakashi. 'Go ahead Sakura.'

'Alright Naruto.' said Sakura 'I'll explain it simply so you can understand. Chakra is the elemental life energy a ninja uses in jutsu. The source of all his power. This energy has two forms. Physical energy which exists in all the cells in the entire body all working together, and and spiritual power. A primal source of power which is intensified through training and experience.' She drew out a scroll and showed a picture. 'As you see these two different kinds of chakra must be drawn out and put together in order to perform jutsu. Notice the interplay between physical and spiritual power. Finally the hand signs, focus and unleash the chakra.'

'Right on all points.' said Kakashi 'Iruka sensei really did have some excellent students.'

'What's the big deal with all these complicated explanations?' asked Naruto 'The whole point is to learn a jutsu isn't it?'

'Naruto is right for once.' said Sasuke 'We're already using chakra energy in our jutsu.'

'No.' said Kakashi 'You have not mastered this power. You've barely scratched the surface of it.'

'What do you mean?!' asked Naruto.

'Calm down and listen.' said Kakashi 'It's just like Sakura said; you have to draw on physical and spiritual energies and then combine them within yourself. But how do you do that? Each jutsu requires different kinds of energy in different preportions. You must select and combine them in exactly the right way.

'Up until now you've just guessed at the preportions, hoping they'd come out right. Even if you have a lot of chakra, unless you can balance and control it it's all worthless. The jutsu won't work at all. Or it'll just be a joke.

'You waste so much energy that way. Then you run out of chakra and you can't fight at all. You're just a target.'

'So how do we change that?' asked Naruto.

'Train so hard that controlling your chakra becomes second nature.' said Kakashi. 'To achieve this goal you must be willing to put your life on the line.'

'What do we have to do?' asked Sakura.

'Climb a tree.' said Kakashi. 'Without your hands.'

'What?' said Sakura 'You're kidding.'

'Am I?' asked Kakashi 'Let's see.'

And he walked up the nearby tree. Walked. As in being horizontal. Eventually he reached a branch and walked upside down on the bottom of it. Then he looked down with a bright one eye. 'Well you get the idea.' he said 'Focus your chakra through the soles of your feet. Use it to connect to the tree. This is one way to apply the power of chakra.'

'Wait a minute,' said Sakura 'that's a nice trick but how does it help us fight Zabuza?'

'It's the only way to fight him, Sakura.' said Kakashi 'That's the entire goal of this training. First you'll learn to draw a precise amount of chakra to a precise point in your body. This is difficult even for advanced ninja. This type of climbing requires a subtle mix of physical and spiritual energy. And the bottoms of the feet are the most difficult points to focus chakra.

Are you getting the picture? If you can master this, you'll be able to master any jutsu?'

'Well yeah, I guess.' said Sakura 'But I can't climb anything while I'm walking around with a crutch.'

'Right,' said Kakashi 'I'll continue using healing jutsu on you while Naruto and Sasuke start their training. You'll have to start a little late.'

'Anyway the second point is to learn to maintain your chakra levels. When a ninja is in battle it's even harder to maintain his chakra levels. To avoid this, maintaining chakra must become second nature. Effortless. Of course I can talk about this all day, but that won't advance your skills will it? You need to apply the power of chakra through training.'

In one swift movement he hurled two kunai. They landed at Naruto and Sasuke's feet. Then Kakashi began the way down. 'Use the kunai knife to mark the tree at the highest point you can climb without using your hands. Then try to get past that mark the next time. And the next.

'At first you'll need to run at the tree so that your momentum can take you as high as possible. Until you get used to it.' He reached the ground. 'Ready?'

Naruto snatched up his knife. 'I'm more than ready! This is going to be no sweat all the way! Believe it! Remember what you said sensei, I'm the one whose grown the most!'

'You're definitely the one who talks the most.' mused Kakashi. 'Now get focused and do it.'

Naruto made a big show about focusing his chakra, rushed at the tree before promptly falling flat on his back. Sasuke made less of a show, but did no better as he used too much chakra and propelled himself off the tree to land in a heap. Kakashi smiled.

'It's the simple things in life you treasure.' said Kakashi 'Harder than you thought, isn't it Sasuke?'

'Yes.' said Sasuke 'If I put too much chakra into it I get pushed off.' He looked to Naruto. 'But if it's not strong enough you just tumble back down.'

'That's about what I expected from Sasuke and Naruto.' said Kakashi, before turning to Sakura. 'Sit down Sakura. This could take a while.'

Sakura obeyed and as Kakashi sat down in front of her crosslegged he drew out a scroll. 'Oh I thought you might like a little reading material while you are waiting.'

'This is a ganjutsu scroll.' said Sakura.

'Iruka's reports indicate you had the best chakra control of everyone in your class.' said Kakashi 'You probably need this training the least. Just don't tell the boys I said that. I'd like to use you to motivate them later. In the meantime study that and familarize yourself with the technique. Once you've completed this test, you can start trying to master it.'

Sakura began to read through the scroll while Kakashi worked on her injury. As she did so she looked up. 'Um, Kakashi, are you sure you should be using medical jutsu while you're chakra exhausted.'

'Don't worry.' said Kakashi 'Your injury isn't very serious so it doesn't take much. All I'm doing is speeding up the process by giving your own chakra a little nudge.'

'Right.' said Sakura, before continuing to read. 'Sensei, this ganjutsu. It's an illusion isn't it?'

'Yes.' said Kakashi 'It shows the person you use it what they want. In the short term of course. Something as deep as the hearts desire is a bit more complicated than all that. What this does is just show them what they want right now. Like if you were trying to ace a test and you really wanted to get a hundred percent, it could give you that.

But if Naruto wants to become Hokage, this won't be much good to him.'

'Well why do you want to teach me this?' asked Sakura 'How could it help against Zabuza?'

'Well,' said Kakashi 'imagine if you used it on him to make him think Tazuna was on the opposite side of the bridge when he was really behind you. That could save your life.'

'Yeah but what if what he wanted was the reward money.' said Sakura.

'Then he would probably see that.' said Kakashi 'But I don't think Zabuza is after that. I've familiarized myself with his profile. The man is something of a patriot.'

'A patriot?' asked Sakura 'But he's a rogue ninja.'

'Someone can love their country and still be an enemy of its ruler.' said Kakashi 'Zabuza made his entrance into the Village Hidden in the Mist by slaughtering over a hundred students in the academy.'

'What?' said Sakura 'Why did he do that?'

'The Village Hidden in the Mist is not a pleasant place to live.' said Kakashi 'For years it was torn apart by wars. Whole villages were destroyed. Cities laid to waste. Eventually one man of rose to power and claimed the title of Mizukage. His name was Yagura Karatachi. He survived by being incredibly paranoid and ruthless.

He only became more so as time passed. He made it a rule that every graduate of the academy must kill their comrades Imagine what your graduation would have been like if instead of working together to seize a bell, you, Naruto and Sasuke had to kill eachother. Would you have been able to do it?'

Sakura stared. 'That's horrible.'

'Zabuza evidently got a taste for killing.' said Kakashi 'Either that or after he killed the two students he'd trained with he had a psychotic breakdown and slaughtered every other class. He grew in power and cunning and eventually tried to overthrow Yagura in an attempted coup.

He failed, however and was forced to flee with his remaining followers.

A few years ago he approached the Village Hidden in the Leaves and requested funding. He wanted to go back and try again. The Hokage refused him. After that he turned to mercenary work.'

'So that's why he is working for Gato.' said Sakura.

'Yes.' said Kakashi 'He doesn't join another village because he wants to rule his own.'

'Then,' Sakura paused 'if this Yagura is so terrible, why haven't we done anything about it?'

'What can we do?' asked Kakashi 'If we interfere in another nation's politics the other nations will think we are trying to start an empire. It could lead to another war.

It's unfortunate but there are some things one can't change.'

'But couldn't we have helped Zabuza overthrow him?' asked Sakura.

'We could have.' said Kakashi 'We might have put him on the throne. But Zabuza is bloodthirsty. There was no certainty he'd be any better than the current ruler of Mist. In a worst case scenario Zabuza might fall and end up having no one to replace him. If that happened the whole nation might fall into another civl war.

Sometimes there are no easy answers.' He halted. 'Well, that should do it. Try standing without your crutch.'

Sakura tried and found herslef able to stand without any pain. 'Hey, it worked! Thanks sensei!'

'Good.' said Kakashi 'Now put down the scroll and start climbing.' He offered her a kunai.

Sakura took it, rushed toward the tree, channeled her chakra and ran all the way up to the top before leaping onto a tree branch and sitting there. Easily she slashed a mark in the bark near the top of the tree. 'Hey, this is fun!'

'Sakura!' said a bruised Naruto.

'Well,' said Kakashi 'looks like the female member of the squad has the most advanced chakra control. Well done Sakura.'

Sakura stuck out her tongue at Sasuke.

'Yeah, way to go Sakura!' said Naruto. 'I always knew you were awesome! Believe it!'

'Well, not only does Sakura understand chakra, she can control and maintain it as well.' said Kakashi. 'We talked about someone being Hokage someday didn't we? Seems Sakura has the best chance of that. Wouldn't you say?

And as for the great Uchiha clan, maybe they're not so great after all.'

The look shared between Sasuke and Naruto was more than enough for Kakashi. _'Alright, I think they are motivated. Of course Sasuke and Naruto have far more chakra than Sakura. If this training works their mastery of chakra will become a valuable asset.'_

* * *

Zabuza woke up with an agony in the side of his neck. He opened his eyes and saw Haku sitting over him, reaching out. Up went his hand as he caught Haku's hand.

'That's enough.' said Zabuza 'I'll do it.'

'So,' said Haku 'you've already come back to life.'

Zabuza sat up an let go. Reaching up he took hold of the senbon in his neck and yanked one out. 'Haku, you're brutal.'

'You're the one whose brutal, Zabuza.' said Haku. 'If you keep pulling them out like that you really will be finished.'

Zabuza ignored her and pulled the other out. Then he looked at the mask in irritation.. 'How long are you going to wear that phony mask? Take it off!'

'I have good memories of this mask.' said Haku 'And it was quite useful for tricking that ninjas.' She drew off her mask to reveal fair features and brown eyes. 'If I hadn't intervened you'd be dead now. That much is certain.'

That much was true. 'Putting me in a temporary death state is fine.' snapped Zabuza. 'But not from the pressure points in my neck.' He replaced his mask. 'Cruel as usual. I think you enjoy it.'

One would never think that one with the face of an angel could be quite so cruel. Haku, for all her outward innocence, was a sadist at heart.

'It was the only sure way.' said Haku 'And I wouldn't want to scratch up your flawless body. You'd complain about that even more. The neck is more reliable. There is no layer of muscle, so I can go straight into the pressure points.'

Zabuza tried to get up. However his arms and legs were hardly responding. He snarled in silent fury. He felt so helpless.

'There is no point trying to move.' said Haku 'You'll be numb for a week. Although, if you're as stubborn as usual you'll probably be moving in half the time.'

'You're so innocent,' mused Zabuza 'and yet clever at the same time. A rare combination. That's why I keep you around.'

Haku smiled and blushed as she stood up. 'I'm still a kid. What else do you expect?' She looked around as the sound of bird calls surrounded them. 'The mist has cleared. Next time will you be alright?'

'Next time,' said Zabuza 'I'll see right through his sharingan.'

Then he found his vision swimming and passed out.

He awoke later that evening within the hideout. Looking up he saw Haku hovering over his bedside. A door Gato and two of his goons entered. The small man was smiling. 'Some jonin. The unbeatable ninja just got beat, limping back home like some pathetic hasbeen. "Demon of the Hidde Mist?" More like Coward of the Hidden Mist.'

Zabuza resisted the urge to sic Haku on him. He still needed to get paid. Haku, however stood. Zabuza heard the sound of swords being loosened in sheathes. 'Drawing swords?' asked Haku.

'Hold on a minute.' said Gato, before walking forward. 'Alright, let's see what you have to say about this fiasco. And don't play possum I know you can talk-' Then he made the mistake of reaching forward. If he'd gotten any further Zabuza would have driven a kunai into his throat.

He didn't. Haku grabbed his hand and for once looked angry. 'Keep your filthy hands off of him.' She squeezed and Gato screamed in agony as a crunching sound could be heard. His bodyguards surged forward and promptly found themselves with their owns swords at their throats. 'Don't push me. I'm in a really foul mood.'

Then she threw the swords away as Gato and his men fled. 'One chance, that's it!' shouted Gato 'If you fail this time I'll cut you off! And there'll be no one left to cover for you!'

'Haku,' said Zabuza 'that wasn't necessary.'

'It wasn't.' said Haku 'But it's still too early to take out Gato. He's still our best cover. Think about it; the murders will draw their attention. Then they'd be after us again. We need restraint.'

'Right.' said Zabuza.

Haku was truly an excellent weapon.

* * *

Later Sakura watched as her teammates ran up the tree again and again. She'd been studying the scroll, having reached the top of the tallest tree some hours ago, and practicing her jutsu. Sasuke and Naruto weren't making any progress at all.

Sasuke was trying again and again. However Naruto was on the verge of giving up. Eventually, however, he came over to her instead. 'Hey, you're good at this. How about some advice. But please don't tell Sasuke I asked, please, please.'

Not tell Sasuke. Sasuke was over near the other tree watching. He hadn't been having much more luck than Naruto, but he was too proud to ask for help. He'd protected her during the fight against Zabuza and she hadn't even thanked him.

There hadn't been any time. Maybe she could make it up to him some other way.

'Alright,' said Sakura 'I guess I could give you a few pointers.'

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

The more perceptive of you may have noticed that Kakashi is actually teaching Sakura something he isn't teaching Naruto and Sasuke. The out of universe reason is that I want Sakura to be a badass in her own right who can compete with the boys. The in universe reason is that Kakashi is more impressed with Sakura than canon and hasn't discounted her.


	10. The Land Where a Hero Once Lived

**Chapter Ten: The Land Where a Hero Once Lived**

Sasuke ran up the tree and managed to get a few feet farther than he had in the beginning. He sliced the tree, but slipped up and fell downwards. He barely managed to catch himself. Naruto, in the meantime, was doing quite well, rapidly getting higher. By now he was nearly overtaking Sasuke.

'Do you need help?' asked Sakura.

'No.' said Sasuke, though she could tell he was furious. 'I've got it handled.'

'You don't look like you have it handled Sasuke.' said Sakura 'If you get yourself killed it'll bring down the team. I could tell you how to do it, if you want.'

'I don't need anyones help.' said Sasuke.

'Fine.' said Sakura 'You're funeral.'

Sasuke rushed up the tree too quickly, slipped on the tree and ended up landing flat on his back. He lay there for a moment while Sakura watched.

3\. 2. 1.

'…Alright, fine, how did you do it?' asked Sasuke.

'Chakra requires spiritual energy.' said Sakura 'So if you get all anxious and frantic it doesn't work. That's how you get a steady flow of chakra in your feet.'

'I already know that!' said Sasuke 'How is that helpful?'

'Were you focused on climbing the tree?' asked Sakura 'Or focused on being the best?'

Sasuke didn't answer.

'If you get all caught up with what other people think and are doing you'll just end up distracted and fail every time.' said Sakura. 'Focus on the tree and nothing else. Clear your mind.'

'Ah, Sakura.' said Kakashi. 'I see you're busy giving your teammates advice and not climbing trees.'

'Well I've basically completed the excercise a hundred times by now.' said Sakura 'I could do it in my sleep.'

'Well since you can do it in your sleep perhaps you'd like another duty.' said Kakashi 'Tazuna is heading to the bridge to continue the work. I need you to go with him and make sure he stays safe.'

'You don't really think that Zabuza could be up already, do you?' asked Sakura.

'Of course not.' said Kakashi 'But Gato might send less formidable thugs after him.' He paused. 'However if Zabuza or his associate do arrive I expect you to run.'

'Run?' said Sakura 'But-'

'You are a rookie genin.' said Kakashi 'You aren't qualified to fight someone on their level alone. At the end of the day Tazuna made this mission on false pretenses so we are under no obligation to die pointlessly to protect him.

You are there as security against thugs. Not ninja.'

'I understand.' said Sakura.

'And while you are there,' said Kakashi 'keep studying that jutsu okay.'

'Right.' said Sakura.

* * *

The sound of hammers on nails filled the air. Every so often Sakura would hear one of the cranes in action as it move pieces of heavy material to the places where they were needed. It didn't exactly make ideal conditions for studying a highly complex ganjutsu. Even so, she thought she was gradually getting the hang of it.

'You always this lazy?' asked Tazuna.

'Hey, my job is to keep you safe.' snapped Sakura 'And Kakashi sensei says I have to learn this to do that. If you didn't want your bodyguards to have to take a crash courses in ganjutsu you should have paid for an A ranked mission.'

'Fair enough.' said Tazuna 'Where is that blonde brat and the kid with the attitude.'

'They're training.' said Sakura 'Climbing trees.'

'Too tough for you?' asked Tazuna.

'No.' said Sakura 'In fact, I'm the best. That's why Sensei sent me here to guard you.'

'You're joking.' said Tazuna.

Sakura was about to say something very impolite to that. But at that moment another man wearing a blue headband approached him. 'Tazuna I need to talk to you.'

'Eh?' said Tazuna 'What about?'

'Ah,' said the man 'thing is, I've been thinking a lot about the bridge. And I've decided I've pushed my luck far enough. I want out.'

'Now you're going to quit on me, just like that!' said Tazuna incredulously. 'You're kidding!'

'You know,' said the builder 'I stayed on because of our friendship. But I'm putting my life on the line every day that I stay here. Gato and his thugs will show up eventually. When they do they'll kill you and the bridge will never get finished anyway.

It's a lost cause, Tazuna. Why don't we stop now while we can still get out of this alive?'

Tazuna seemed to consider it for a moment. '…No chance. This is our bridge. Our island is poor. And it will stay that way until this bridge connects us to the mainland. Commerce, trade and hope! That's what we're building here!'

'There's not going to be much hope if we're all dead.' noted the builder.

'It's already noon.' said Tazuna 'Let's break for lunch.'

'Tazuna, come on.' said the builder 'Let's not end it like this.'

'It's time to eat.' said Tazuna 'And Geichi, don't bother coming back after lunch.'

Sakura suddenly found herself with new respect for the man. Tazuna wasn't a ninja. He was just an ordinary guy. A bridgebuilder. But he was risking his life for the sake of the Land of Waves. There was a lot to admire there.

She followed after Tazuna.

Naruto and Sasuke had reached the top of the tree. Kakashi sensei's response was to bring them to a bunch of even taller trees and tell them to climb those. Now they were sitting at the base, limbs aching and hearts beating.  
Then they looked at eachother.

 _'_ _I'm not going to lose out to you.'_ said Naruto.

They both began to climb again.

* * *

Later as the day was winding down Sakura followed Tazuna into the main town. The people here were mostly dressed poorly. Beggers were on almost every street corner and the buildings were even more run down than those on the waterfront. The whole place radiated despair.

'Where are we going?' asked Sakura.

'You want to eat tonight, don't you?' asked Tazuna. 'I've got to pick up some things for dinner.'

Sakura saw a man with a bandaged head carrying a sign that begged for money. His back was slumped and his eyes hopeless. She gave him some money and they walked on. Even as she did a young boy rushed into an alley carrying some money as a shopkeeper called thief.

Two young boys could be seen sitting by the roadside with their heads in their faces.

'Here we are.' said Tazuna.

They entered into a run down shop. The shelves had only a small assortment of vegetables. It was obvious that there wasn't a bountiful supply of food. This was a store? There was nothing here.

Suddenly Sakura felt someone taking hold of her bag. On reflex she turned around and struck the person across the face. The man hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. By this time Tazuna had finished his shopping and they made their way out.

'You really surprised me back there.' said Tazuna 'Girls around here don't fight like that.'

'They should.' said Sakura 'Something is seriously wrong around here-' She felt someone grab ahold of her skirt and whirled round. However she saw a young boy, looking far too skinny. He looked at her with hopeful eyes and raised his hands.

'Please?' he asked.

Sakura drew out some rations and gave them to him. The boy thanked her and ran off into the crowd. Tazuna looked on with her. 'This is how it has been since Gato came here. The children suffer, and the adults are afraid to stand up to him. They've lost all hope. That's why we have to finish the bridge. It will bring commerce and trade. But much more importantly that bridge is a symbol of courage.

We must restore the spirit of our people. When the bridge is finished people will start to believe again. They'll believe that they can live with dignity. We can't let Gato stop us.'

'Nice speech.' said a leering voice.

The crowd scattered as into the street stepped three huge thugs. They held clubs and knives and were approaching. 'What do you say we cut is short boss?'

Sakura stepped in front of them as they approached, drawing her kunai. 'Stay back.'

'Oh look at this. The school kid brigade is here to stop us.' laughed the thug as he approached. 'What a joke. Get out of here before we find something creative to do-'

There were three of them. Even if Sakura had better training they had the advantage in numbers and were more physically developed. She knew she must strike fast and without mercy. As they had been speaking she had been reaching for her holster.

In one swift movement she drew out three shurikens and hurled them at the men. One of them sliced the first man's left eye. Another tore the throat of the second. The last lodged itself in the final thug's leg.

Blood spewed from their injuries as they fell backward screaming, or gurgling in the case of the second. The third, however, drew out the shuriken and rushed at her with a roar. Sakura hurled her kunai and caught him in the heart with it.

He collapsed to his knees and died there.

He was dead. Sakura had killed a man. She'd driven a cold piece of metal into his vital organs and he'd died of it. She walked forward, staring in horror as the blood pooled all over the dirt streets. This was it. This was what she had signed on for.

The other two were still alive.

Sakura drew out her spare kunai and move toward the one who was gurgling. Blood was spilling from his neck and it would be only a matter of time before he died. She didn't know any of the medical jutsu necessary to save him. Even if she could it wouldn't be a good idea.

Raising the kunai she fell to one knee and drove it home into the man's throat, through to cut through his neck. He was dead as well.

Only one left now.

He looked at her in terror with his one good eye and scrambled to his feet, fleeing while screaming in fear. Sakura raised her blade to throw it into his back. If he got away he could bring more.

Then Tazuna put a hand on her shoulder. 'Let him go, kid. I'm sorry I underestimated you.'

Sakura relaxed. She also took time to retrieve her kunai and shurikens, beinng careful not to get blood on her skirt. She'd been lucky to escape without any red on her. Well any red she wasn't already wearing.

Two men were dead and she had killed both of them. It was strange. She felt so empty. As if there was a void where her emotions had been. She didn't know how to react. Of course she'd always known that killing was part of the ninja way but it had never set in.

Why had she even become a ninja in the first place?

Oh right. Ino had been her only friend. She'd been entering the academy and Sakura hadn't wanted to be separated from her. She'd begged and pleaded with her parents to send her to the academy and her parents had relented. Why not? Being a ninja was a prestigious job.

Which involved killing people.

She looked to Tazuna who was looking entirely too comfortable. 'Has this happened before?'

'Yes.' said Tazuna 'Anyone who stands up to Gato ends up dead. Frankly I'm just glad this time it happened to his goons.'

That was right. These had not been good people. They had been thugs. Probably murderers. They would have killed Tazuna and probably her in a heartbeat. And their death was necessary for the mission. A shinobi was not supposed to let their emotions cloud their judgement. And she wasn't.

'Tazuna,' she said 'can we not mention this? Back at home?'

'Why not?' asked Tazuna.

'It just isn't something I want to discuss.' said Sakura 'It would make things awkward with Naruto and Sasuke.'

She cleaned off her weapons on the way back. She didn't want there to be any sign of what she had done. As they reached the house they opened the door and entered it. They were welcomed by Tsunami who set about making dinner.

Sasuke and Naruto ate ravenously. Far too ravenously. Sakura wasn't hungry.

'This is fantastic.' said Tazuna 'It's been ages since we last had so many guests around our table.'

Naruto and Sasuke finished their food before raising their bowls. 'I want some more!' They said at once. Then their eyes met in silent challenge. Then they looked as if they were about to puke from wolfing things down.

'Don't eat so much if you're going to throw it up.' snapped Sakura.

'I have to eat.' said Sasuke.

'And I have to eat more than him.' said Naruto. 'It's the only possible way I'll get strong enough to beat him!'

'That's true.' said Kakashi 'But puking won't help you.'

Sasuke wanted to flare up. To scream at them that there were people starving to death in the Land of Waves. But it was pointless. If Kakashi sensei wasn't chiding them she shouldn't be. She started to eat her own food.

As the meal was completed Sakura saw something. A picture on the far wall with four people in it. Tazuna, Inari, Tsunami and a man whose face had been torn out of the picture. Sakura made her way over to it and focused on it so she didn't have to think about the blood pouring out over the street.

'Excuse me,' she said 'this picture is torn. Is there some reason for that? Inari you kept glancing at it all through dinner. It looked like there was someone else in the picture but they got torn out. I mean that's kind of strange isn't it?' Yes she was being insensitive but she had to hear something else.

'It's my husband.' said Tsunami.

'They used to call him a hero in this land.' said Tazuna.

Inari walked out.

'Inari where are you going?!' cried Tsunami, rushing after him. As she reached the door she glanced back. 'Father you can't talk about him like that in front of Inari. You know that!' And she stormed out.

Tazuna was silent.

'Inari's so…' Don't think about the screams of the dying men. Don't. 'I mean what happened to him?'

'Is there a story behind this?' asked Kakashi.

'He wasn't his real father.' said Tazuna 'He came into our family later. And he brought so much happiness. He and Inari were very close.'

Inari was smiling in the picture. Smiling.

'In those days Inari used to laugh all the time.' continued Tazuna, voice breaking up .'But then… all that ended. He never laughs or smiles anymore. The word courage was stolen from this island. We were left feeling powerless, hopeless, and Inari suffered the most. Ever since that day, ever since it happened…'

'Tell us,' said Kakashi 'what happened to Inari?'

'First you need to know about the man who acted as his father.' said Tazuna 'The man who taught us the word courage, who was a hero in this land.'

'A hero, really?' asked Naruto.

'You can decide that for yourself.' said Tazuna 'He came here about three years ago. Inari had been drowning, but he leaped into the ocean and pulled him to safety. He brought Inari home safely, telling him to live his life so he has nothing to regret.

His name was Kaiza. A simple fisherman who'd come here from another land to follow his dreams. After that Inari and Kaiza were inseperable. The boy had never known his real father so you can imagine what it meant to him to have Kaiza in his life. He looked up to him and followed in his footsteps like a real father and son.

Kaiza spent more and more time with us until he just naturally became a member of our family. And then when this town needed him he became something more.

A great storm washed over the island, threatening to drown the lower distract. The floodgates failed to close and the water was rising. But Kaiza leaped into the churning water and attached a rope to it. Hauling on the rope, the whole village managed to shut the flood gates.

From that time on Kaiza was considered a hero in this land. He taught us all the meaning of courage. And Inari was so proud to be his son.

But it wasn't long after that Gato showed up and took over. He terrorized the whole village. got away. He hired Zabuza to abduct Kaiza from his bed. Even he couldn't stand against the rogue ninja and he was taken to an abandoned warehouse.'

'Zabuza?' asked Sasuke 'Isn't that a bit excessive.'

'Gato is a sore loser.' said Tazuna 'He has no real need for money. He's already one of the richest men in the world. But just the fact that someone stood against him made him willing to go to any ends to destroy them. The man has no pride.'

'What happened to Kaiza?' asked Sakura, dreading the answer.

'Gato crucified him.' said Tazuna.

'What's crucified mean?' asked Naruto.

'It means that he was nailed to a cross by his hands and feet and left to hang.' said Sakura, feeling sick. 'You have to choose where you support the weight. Either your arms or legs are in complete agony.'

'You mean he bled to death?' asked Naruto, horror in his voice.

'No.' said Sakura 'You don't die from blood loss. Instead your lungs gradually collapse in on themselves as you suffocate.' Now she felt like throwing up.

'It was a small mercy that Zabuza stabbed him.' said Tazuna, looking down at the table. 'Right in an artery with a kunai. It meant it was over quick. The man never gave in, even until the end. But it didn't matter becasue everyone was cowed.

After Kaiza died Gato had his arms cut off and left him to hang there. Inari watched the whole thing.'

'I'm sorry I asked.' said Sakura 'I didn't mean to-'

'You couldn't have known.' said Tazuna 'Since then Inari has changed. So did Tsunami and all our people. We lost our will.'

Silence fell over them. Naruto had put his head on the table and was staring at the picture. His gaze was bitter and very sad. Suddenly he got up.

'Where are you going Naruto?' asked Sakura.

'You'd better take the day off.' said Kakashi 'No more training. You've used too much chakra.'

'I'm going to prove it.' said Naruto.

'Prove what?' asked Sakura.

'I'll prove that it's true.' said Naruto 'That in this world there are real heroes.'

Naruto was out late that night and got back near midnight. Sakura hadn't been able to sleep. She'd been lying down on her bed, just thinking. She remembered the blood of the men she had killed. The way they had screamed and it haunted her.

As Naruto lay down he looked up at the ceiling as well.

She turned her mind to Naruto so she didn't have to remember what she had done. The conversation about Inari had brought to mind her own parents and how she would feel if they die. And that brought up another question. Something was bothering her about her friend and she kept glancing at him when he wasn't looking. Finally she mustered the courage to speak. 'Hey Naruto, mind if I ask you something?'

'No, I don't mind.' said Naruto 'What is it?'

'Do you remember your parents?' asked Sakura.

'No.' said Naruto 'My mom and dad died in Kyuubi's attack. Or that's what Old Man Hokage told me. He said they were protecting me. I grew up in an orphanage, but I kept trying to escape. Eventually Old Man Hokage got me an apartment.'

Sakura looked at him in surprise. She wondered if he was joking. But she didn't see any deception in his eyes. 'Why?'

'Huh?' asked Naruto 'What do you mean?'

'Well I mean, Naruto, you don't think that the Hokage gives out apartments to every orphan that escapes.' said Sakura 'It would bankrupt Konoha. There has got to be some kind of reason why he decided to do it.'

'I dunno.' said Naruto, looking up. 'The Old Man has always looked out for me. He's the one who paid for my enrollment in the academy.'

'Maybe your parents were friends of his.' said Sakura 'It would make sense.'

'Old Man Hokage has a lot of friends I'll bet.' said Naruto.

'Maybe you should ask him about it when we get back.' said Sakura. 'The worst he can do is not tell you.'

'Why wouldn't he tell me?' asked Naruto.

'I don't know.' said Sakura thoughtfully. 'If he has a personal interest in you he probably should have told you by now. Maybe your parents were someone really important.' But Sakura didn't buy it. It seemed to her that if the Hokage knew about his parents and wasn't telling him about them, he wouldn't withhold the information if it wouldn't hurt him. 'Naruto, what if-' She paused.

'What?' said Naruto.

'Nothing.' said Sakura. 'I'll talk to you about it later.'

She didn't remember when she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

One serious problem in the Naruto storyline is that Naruto's lineage isn't really followed up on. Which would have been fine if he'd just been a nobody with no special lineage. Actually it probably would have been BETTER if he was a nobody since at least then the whole aesop about screw destiny wouldn't have been quite so broken. But if his lineage is going to be a big deal then it should be dealt with and foreshadowed. Frankly I think it should have been revealed much earlier.

On a separate note I now regret that I was quite so harsh on Sasuke in the first part of the story. Part of the problem is that in the original story Naruto was the butt monkey of the cast. In this context it was partially swapped to Sasuke. I'll admit I don't really like Sasuke much, but I'm trying to do his character justice.


	11. Introspection

**Chapter Eleven: Introspection**

Birds chirped in the forest near Gato's hideout. Haku admired the scenery, wondering if the little toad who was their employer ever admired it. Probably not. Gato liked things he could torment and destroy, things he could control. Nature was something with its own ways that did not listen to mankind.

Granted Haku liked hurting things as well. Not killing. But she had always gain a certain degree of pleasure from seeing things in pain. It was a trait she had worked hard to control, after discovering it during her missions under Master Zabuza.

She removed her hair tie and let it fall down around her shoulders. Then she went out to search for herbs. It was a nice morning for it. The air was fresh and cool and the light filtered through the early morning mist to reveal a world that was strange and new and fresh.

As she harvested herbs a bird landed on her shoulder. She looked to the creature and smiled. She would probably gain a good deal of pleasure from pulling off its wings. But that would be very unkind so she didn't do it.

Then she spotted something orange out of the corner of her eye. Looking up she saw a boy, one of the boys who had accompanied Kakashi. The one who had been so upset about her supposedly killing Zabuza. She made her way over to where he was lying flat on his back with his eyes closed.

He was sleeping and therefore defenseless. In one hand was a kunai but as she approached he made no move. Haku kneeled by him and reached out to grip him by the throat.

But her fingers stopped as she did so. For a moment she held them there, wrestling. This boy was nowhere near strong enough to face Master Zabuza in a serious fight. If Zabuza killed Kakashi there would be no need to kill him in the first place.

She shook him. 'You'll catch cold if you sleep here. Wake up.'

The boy groaned and opened his eyes. He sat up and looked at her with tired eyes. 'Who the heck are you?' Then he leaned back with a blush as he saw her. 'Oh, I mean, where did you come from? I mean what are you doing out here and all that.'

'I'm gathering herbs.' said Haku.

'Herbs?' he asked.

'Yes, that's right.' said Haku 'They are for treating illnesses and healing wounds.'

'I'll help you then.' said Naruto.

* * *

Breakfast was served early as Sakura came to sit by them. She covered her mouth as she yawned and sat down. 'Good morning everyone.'

Kakashi was looking at the table. He looked uneasy. Sakura wasn't sure why.

'Naruto's not here?' asked Tazuna 'Looks like he was out all night again.'

'He's gone completely crazy.' said Sakura 'He's out climbing trees in the dark. I just hope he doesn't use too much of his chakra. It could kill him.' Though Kakashi sensei hadn't made any move to stop him so it probably wasn't a problem.

'Well I certainly hope he's okay.' said Tsunami 'A child spending the night in the woods alone.'

'There's nothing to worry about.' said Kakashi 'Naruto's a goofy kid but he's also a full fledged ninja. He can handle himself.'

'Sakura's right.' said Sasuke 'Naruto's such a loser. He's probably lying out there dead somewhere.'

'Well isn't that nice.' said Sakura 'You know pretending not to care if someone is dead doesn't make you cool. It makes you a jerk.'

Sasuke stood up without a word. 'I'm going for a walk.'

The girl {who was even prettier than Sakura.} knew a lot about herbs. She taught Naruto which ones to look for as they searched, gradually filling her basket. When they had finished he looked up. 'You start work early, huh sis?' asked Naruto.

'I like it early.' said Haku. 'It's calm but I didn't think I'd find anyone sleeping out here in the woods.'

Naruto smiled. 'I'm training.'

'Hmm,' said the girl 'so are you a ninja? Because I notice that headband you're wearing. Or are you just making a fashion statement.'

Naruto found himself blushing. He'd never met a girl like this before. 'You noticed that? Alright! Only super cool ninja can wear these!'

'Oh really?' asked the girl. 'I see, that's very impressive.'

Naruto laughed.

'But,' said the girl 'does that mean you're training for something dangerous.'

'I'm just developing my skills so I can get stronger.' said Naruto.

'You seem very strong now.' noted the girl ''Isn't that enough?'

It was a weird question. Naruto wasn't sure how to answer it at first. Nobody had ever called him strong before. Except maybe Konahamaru. 'No, no I need to get stronger and stronger. I have to keep practicing.'

'How so?' asked the girl 'Why is it so important?'

'So I can become the best ninja in my village.' said Naruto. 'Then everyone will know who I am and they'll all respect me. There is also a certain person that I have to prove something to.'

'So are you doing it for this certain person?' asked the girl 'Or are you doing all this training for yourself.'

Naruto wasn't sure how to answer that either. This girl had a lot of strange questions. Did he want to become Hokage because he wanted to? Or was it because he just wanted the respect that came with the office? He kind of wanted to prove he was better than Sasuke too.

The girl laughed. Naruto felt a surge of irritation. Here he was talking about his dreams and she was laughing. 'What are you laughing about? What's so funny?'

'Is there someone whose precious to you?' asked the girl.

'Someone who…' Naruto trailed off. 'What are you saying sis, what do you mean precious?'

Her eyes grew distant and he had the feeling she was thinking of things that happened a long time ago. 'A long time ago I was living on the streets. Every day I was nearly starving. Then my Master found me. He took me in, gave me a trade, and he became precious to me. You see, when a person has something precious then they become genuinely strong.'

Naruto never seemed to know what to say to all this. But then he remembered Tazuna's tale about Inari. He remembered Kakashi's promise to protect them with his life. But most of all he remembered Iruka shielding him from a shuriken.

He'd gotten so angry after that. He'd beaten Mizuki to a pulp. He smiled. 'Yeah, I hear you. I hear exactly what you're saying.'

The girl said nothing. She just picked up her basket and stood. 'You will get strong. Very strong. Goodbye. We'll meet again sometime.'

* * *

Haku had been trying to find a way to cause the boy suffering without laying a hand on him. Causing people pain without exceeding the limits of social norms was difficult. It was an art form. And Haku specialized in it. For instance she had picked the spot to hit Zabuza with her knockout venom where it would be most painful. Ordinarily she would not do so, but Zabuza expected her to enjoy her work. She was a weapon, so she obeyed.

In this circumstance there was no way to assail him physically without breaking social norms. Even so there were many kinds of pain and Haku came up with one.

'Oh, by the way,' said Haku 'I'm a boy.'

Haku could positively feel the cringe. Now the boy would experience hours of disturbed questioning of his sexuality while trying to justify his constant blushing. Her work here was done.

As she walked she saw another one of the genin from before. He did not recognize her.

Naruto was currently undergoing something of a crisis. She was a guy? But she'd been way prettier than Sakura. And the clothes. There was just no way she was a guy. No way at all

'I've seen a lot of weird things in my life.' said Naruto 'But this one takes the cake.'

Then he saw Sasuke walking over to him. Sasuke hit him over the head.

'Hey!' said Naruto 'What was that for?'

'Hey twerp.' said Sasuke 'Did you just forget about breakfast? You're such a loser.'

Naruto smiled and stood up. Sasuke had come to get him. Nobody had shown this kind of concern to him before he got a team. Except Iruka sensei, of course.

When Sasuke didn't come back Sakura and Kakashi went out looking for him. They went to the practice spot Kakashi had chosen and found no one there. Sakura called out for Naruto repeatedly but got no answer.

Eventually she began to get genuinely worried. 'Naruto!' she called. 'He could be anywhere. And Sasuke hasn't come back either. I wonder where they are.' Had they come into trouble? What if Gato's thugs had found them while they were exhausted.

No, Naruto and Sasuke could handle themselves.

Flashes of blood and death went through her mind. The scream of the men she had stabbed. Sakura tried to hide her reaction. There had been nothing else she could do.

At that moment a kunai shot down from above and planted itself at their feet. Sakura looked up and saw Naruto at the top of the tree she'd climbed earlier. He was lying there, smirking.

'Wow,' said Sakura 'Naruto can climb that high now using his chakra? That's great.'

'Hmm.' said Kakashi.

'What do you think?' asked Naruto 'High enough for you guys? I mean it's a long way down.' He stood up with a start, promptly lost his footing and with a gust of wind fell off the branch. At the last second, however, he caught himself with his feet and stood upside down. 'Haha, just kidding.'

No he hadn't been.

'Haha,' said Naruto 'you fell for it!'

'Why do I think this is going to end badly?' wondered Kakashi.

The answer came soon. Naruto lost his grip and careened toward the ground. But before he could fall there was a blur and Sasuke was hanging from the tree by his feet, one hand around Naruto's foot.

'You really are a total loser Naruto.' said Sasuke.

'Sasuke?' asked Naruto in surprise.

'How are you guys going to get down?' asked Sakura.

'If I'm still sane by the time they finish their training it will be a miracle.' said Kakashi.

It was night now. Zabuza had been able to stand and walk for days and now he was feeling strong. Stronger than he had in a long time. He held an apple in one hand and squeezed. The apple was crushed in one hand with an absent motion. Zabuza smiled beneath his mask. His strength was returning.

'You're recovering quickly.' said Haku.

'Just a little longer, Haku.' said Zabuza.

Soon he'd have his rematch. Soon Kakashi would die by his hand. And he'd enjoy every second of it.

* * *

Days later on the porch of Tazuna's house. Sakura read the ganjutsu scroll for the thousandth time as she practiced the hand signs. She'd been working on it non stop for quite some time. Casting it again she focused on creating the image of what it was she wanted at the moment.

'Lotus Eater No Jutsu, Class 1!' she said. She wondered what the other classes were like.

The image appeared gradually, shifting. Before her eyes there appeared a hot bath complete with the conditioners which she hadn't had for days and days. The image was hard to hold, though the chakra cost was minimal. Still just keeping it in place was very difficult.

'Sakura,' said Kakashi 'you seem to be working hard.'

The image shattered and Sakura sighed. 'Yeah. All I can do is hold it for a bit and only a bit. Any tips.'

'Well you aren't doing half bad.' said Kakashi 'Just remember the more people you effect with a ganjutsu the more difficult it is to sustain. You don't have the same chakra reserves as Sasuke and Naruto so you've got to be careful not to overdo it.

Oh, and dinner is served.'

'Right,' said Sakura 'do you think Sasuke and Naruto will be on time?'

'I'm sure they'll be in eventually.' said Kakashi.

They sat down to eat. As it turned out Sasuke and Naruto arrived just in time. They were supporting eachother with one arm around the others shoulder as they came in. Tazuna blinked.

'What have you been up to?' he asked 'You look like something the cat dragged in.'

'We both made it.' said Naruto 'We climbed all the way to the top.'

'Good.' said Kakashi 'Now we move on. Starting tomorrow you're both bodyguards for Tazuna.'

'Alright!' said Naruto.

At this point Naruto tried to jump for joy. Emphesis on tried. However since he was still tangled up with Sasuke he ended up throwing both of them to the floor.

'You are such a loser!' said Sasuke.

But he didn't really mean it. Sakura realized that she didn't really hate Sasuke as much as she had before. She wasn't giving up Ino to him but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends. But that got Sakura thinking about how she had treated him earlier.

She'd been kind of a jerk earlier.

The Uchiha clan was no more. One day it had disappeared overnight. Everyone except Sasuke. The details were all secret. Sasuke had never talked about it. All that was known was that all of them were dead.

Dead like the men Sakura had killed. Suddenly she realized she was the only one not laughing. Her hand was forming a fist. And Kakashi was looking at her.

When dinner was over Tazuna clasped his hands together thoughtfully. 'In a few more days the bridge will be finished. I have you to thank for that.'

'You've all done great,' said Tsunami 'but you've still got to be careful.'

'I've been meaning to ask you this,' said Tazuna 'but I haven't had the chance until now. Why did you stay and protect me even after you'd found out I'd lied to bring you here?'

'"Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage."' said Kakashi '"But under the wing of a strong leader cowardice cannot survive."'

'Huh?' said Tsunami, echoing Sakura's thoughts.

'That was a quote from the first Hokage.' said Kakashi.

'But sensei,' said Sakura 'you didn't actually answer the question.'

'Very well,' said Kakashi 'if you must know Sakura I didn't anticipate Gato having a ninja on the level of Zabuza in the first place. For all I knew there was nothing else to worry about. If I had known I would have turned back at once with Tazuna and tried to make other arrangements.

But by the time we faced him it was already too late. With me chakra exhausted and Sakura injured we couldn't have fled even if we tried. And now we're already almost done so there is no point in pulling out now.'

'Well that makes sense.' said Tazuna.

Inari said nothing for a moment. He stared at Naruto who was sleeping with his head in his arms. His eyes were filled with memory in a way no kids should. Suddenly tears began to run down his face. As he cried Sakura remembered the men she had killed and choked back. She'd killed people. Three people.

Every time she had almost forgotten their dead faces came to her mind. The blood spilling on the road. Blood spilled by her hands. She could tell herself there was nothing else she could have done. Tell herself that 'But why…'

'Hmm.' said Naruto 'What'd you say?'

'All this stupid training is just a waste of time!' said Inari 'Gato has a whole army! They'll beat you down and they'll destroy you! These cool things you all say, they don't mean anything! No matter what you do, the strong always win and the weak always lose.'

The strong. The thugs she had killed had said something like that. They had looked down on her. Now they were dead. She had killed them.

'Just speak for yourself.' said Naruto 'It won't be like that for me you got that!'

'Why don't you be quiet!' said Inari 'Just looking at you makes me sick! You don't know anything about this country! All you're doing is butting in! All you're doing is playing around! You don't know what's it's like to suffer and treated like dirt!'

Sakura stood up. 'Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!' The boy nearly fell out of his seat. 'We're not even supposed to be here you little brat! We signed up to fend off a couple of bandits! Not fight jonins, but we did it anyway!  
We've already saved your grandfathers life three times and all you've done is insult us!

You say we don't know anything about this country. Do you know anything about this country?! Have you stopped moping long enough look outside? There are people in this country who are starving to death because of Gato and here you sit over a hot meal with a warm bed waiting for you, spitting in our face for daring to try and do the job we were **NOT** hired to do!'

Inari fell out of his, shaking. Fear. Flashes of the man whose eye she had slashed out came to her and Sakura realized she was shaking. She turned and stormed out before she could. The memory of it came on her and she found herself running out into the woods.

She tripped and fell to her knees as she felt bile rising in her throat. She'd killed them. Killed people. People with hopes, dreams and goals and she'd killed them. She retched and threw up on the roots of a tree and felt tears coming from her eyes.

'You had to kill someone, didn't you.' said Kakashi.

'…Yes.' said Sakura 'They tried to ambush Tazuna and… and I killed two of them and slashed out the last ones' eye. I was going to throw a kunai into his back. I… I'm a murderer.'

'Why didn't you tell me?' asked Kakashi.

'I don't know.' said Sakura 'I didn't want, I didn't want people to think I'm a monster.'

Kakashi kneeled by her and set a hand to her shoulder. 'I know this doesn't make it any better, Sakura, but you aren't a monster because you had to kill. You had no choice. Do you think a monster would be having this kind of reaction?'

'No.' gasped Sakura 'Does, does it ever get better?'

'Not really.' said Kakashi 'And it shouldn't. It isn't a small thing to take a life. It should only be done when necessary. The Leaf Village is what it is because we hold life sacred.' He stood up. 'Now come on. It's cold out here and I don't want you catching your death.'

Sakura stood. 'Alright.'

She couldn't wash the blood off her hands. But she could make sure that no one else needed to die pointlessly.

* * *

Kakashi was a fool. He'd noticed something was wrong with Sakura when she'd first gotten back. But he'd assumed it was due to some interpersonal dynamic with Sasuke and Naruto. It had never occured to him that there might have been an attack.

Then again he'd expected Tazuna to tell him if it happened.

Whatever the case he put Sakura to bed and walked out onto the porch to where he found Inari. The boy was sitting looking out over the sea. He looked absolutely miserable. Kakashi felt he should say something. Anything. 'Can I talk to you?' he asked.

The boy said nothing. So Kakashi sat down next to him. 'Sakura can be a bit… judgemental at times. But she doesn't hate you. Your grandfather told us what happened to your father. You probably don't know this, but, Naruto also grew up without a father.

In fact, he never knew either of his parents. And he didn't have a single friend in our village. I think Sakura was offended by what you were saying to him. Still, I've never seen him cry, sulk or give up. He's always eager to jump in. He wants to be respected. That's his dream. And he'll put his life on the line for that in a heartbeat.

My guess is, he just got tired of crying. And decided to do something about it.'

Inari looked thoughtful. Kakashi eyed him. 'Even though he's young and still learning he knows what it means to be strong. Like you're father did. I think he knows better than any of us what you're going through.'

Kakashi looked up at the moon. Inari did the same. Together they watched it for a time. And Kakashi knew that soon he would face Zabuza again. He only hoped he was strong enough to defeat him.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

So yeah. The strange thing about Haku's character is that Zabuza, the person who knows him best, seems to have widely differing ideas about him. On the one hand he seems to be under the impression that Haku is too good for this sinful earth. On the other hand he portrays Haku as a sadistic and relentless monster when talking about him to Kakashi.

Neither interpretation seems wholly correct so I've decided to go for something in between. I'm trying to experiment a bit here and this is something of an alternate character interpretation of Haku. I hope it doesn't alienate anyone.


	12. Battle on the Bridge

**Chapter Twelve: Battle on the Bridge**

Another day at the bridge was approaching and this time Kakashi sensei would be going with them. Both Sasuke and Sakura would be going. But Naruto was still asleep and with good reason. His non stop training had drained his chakra reserves and Kakashi didn't want him exerting himself.

They stepped outside and Kakashi turned to look at Tsunami. 'Okay I leave Naruto in your hands. He's pushed his body to the limit. Overdoing it as usual. So he may not be able to move today at all.'

'What about you?' asked Tsunami 'You're still recovering yourself.'

'Why?' asked Kakashi 'Do I look wobbly? I'll be okay.'

'Come on,' said Tazuna 'let's go.'

* * *

Zabuza took a call from Gato. The last call, with any luck. He put it to his ear.

'Still wasting time licking your wounds?!' roared Gato 'I hired you to do a job you know! Are you listening Zabuza-'

Zabuza tossed the phone to the ground and crushed it under foot. It was an immensely satisfying thing to do. He could always replace it once he got his payment.

He looked to Haku. 'Haku, you ready?'

'Yes.' said Haku, masked once more.

They stole a boat and made their way toward the bridge where even now work was underway. Reaching the bridge they scaled up it quickly and found the workers there. They never stood a chance.

* * *

Naruto awoke and rose with a start. It was late morning and he was alone. 'Ah! Why didn't somebody wake me up?!' He stood and raced downstairs. 'Where is everybody Tsunami? Where did they all go?'

'Oh Naruto,' said Tsunami 'your sensei wanted to let you rest. You got the day off.'

'I knew it!' snapped Naruto as he threw on his clothes. 'They ditched me!'

When he was fully dressed he put on his headband. Then he made his way downstairs. 'See ya!' he called, before racing out the door.

He was in such a hurry that he did not notice the two samurai watching him leave.

* * *

No sooner had they reached the bridge and a familiar mist arose around them. Sakura knew what it was at once as Kakashi took a stance. 'Sasuke, Sakura, get ready!' He raised his hands. 'I knew he was still alive. He just couldn't wait for round 2.'

'Kakashi sensei, it's Zabuza isn't it!' said Sakura. 'This is his Hidden Mist Jutsu.'

'Sorry I kept you waiting, Kakashi.' said Zabuza's voice. 'I see you've still got those brats with you. That ones' still trembling.

It was true. Sasuke was shaking.  
Then suddenly Zabuza was all around them. Four of him with blades in hand. Water clones? Or was one of them the real thing?

'I'm trembling with excitement.' said Sasuke with a smile.

'Go on, Sasuke.' said Kakashi.

There was a blur of movement as Sasuke rushed at the clones. Each one of them collapsed back into water as Sasuke landed. Showoff.

'Oh so you could see they were water clones huh?' asked Zabuza. 'The brats improving. Looks like you've got a rival, Haku.'

'So it seems.' said the missing ninja from before.

'Well, well,' said Kakashi 'so I had it right. It was all an act. An act with a cute little mask.'

'Big phoney.' scoffed Sasuke. 'That's it.'

'So I guess all that about being a tracker ninja protecting his village was just a bunch of bull.' said Tazuna.

'They look pretty chummy to me.' said Kakashi 'I'd say they've been playing scams like that for a long-' And then he ducked as Zabuza nearly took his head off.

'Shut up and fight.' said Zabuza.

Drawing his kunai Kakashi met his next blow and they engaged in a flurry of strokes that saw Kakashi driven back. The black masked ninja stumbled and narrowly caught himself.

But Zabuza had already turned to strike at Tazuna. Sakura pushed him out of the way and felt Zabuza's blade slash through her hair. Several locks of pink hair landed on the ground. As she landed she saw Haku coming at her, but Sasuke blocked the masked ninja. Senbon met kunai, as Kakashi came back into the fight.

But Zabuza melted away into the mist as though he'd never been. Haku and Sasuke were dueling and Sakura wanted to go help him. But she also knew that if she left Tazuna Zabuza might kill him.

So she had to guard him and hope.

The battle for the bridge had begun.

* * *

Naruto rushed through the trees as quickly as he could manage. Any minute now the others could come under attack or something and they might need him. He wasn't going to let Sasuke get all the credit like last time.

As he ran, however he noticed something. A pig, lying dead on its side. Its carcasse had been slashed and left out to rot. Flies were gathering but it was recent. Which meant someone had passed through her with a sword recently.

But what would someone with a sword be doing out here?  
He thought. Maybe Gato had sent some people out here. But what would he want except… Tsunami and Inari.

Naruto turned and rushed back the way he had come.

* * *

Tsunami was cleaning the table when the wall was abruptly cut down. She looked up to see two muscular men entering with katanas. One of them, pale with white hair, smiled. 'So you're Tazuna's daughter huh? Too bad. You'll have to come with us now.'

Tsunami grabbed a plate and threw it at them before making a run for it. If she could lead them away Inari would be safe. But before she could get far one of them was on her. She was shoved to the ground and heard herself scream.

The two men were leering down at her. Then Inari came down from upstairs. 'Mother!'

'No, don't come out here!' cried Tsunami 'Run away, hurry!'

'Don't move.' said the tan one. 'Shall we grab this one too?'

'No.' said the pale one 'Gato asked for just one hostage.'

'Alright,' said the tan one 'then let's waste him!' And he drew his katana.

She had to stop them. She couldn't let Inari die. 'Wait!' cried Tsunami. 'Please don't hurt my son. I'm begging you, he's just a boy. I'll do anything. Just please don't hurt him.'

'Looks like your mom came through for you kid.' said the pale one. 'Lucky.'

Inari collapsed in fear.

'What a waste.' said the tan one 'I was in the mood to cut something.'

'Give it a rest.' said the pale one 'You already drew blood today. Let's get her out of here.'

They hauled Tsunami up and tied her hands behind her back with course knots. As they did Inari watched while crying. 'I'm sorry mom! I'm sorry! What could I do? I'm too weak to protect you!'

Tsunami didn't say anything. Every moment she was here was more time for these monsters to change their mind and kill Inari anyway. She walked with them onto the bridge and began to be forced forward. Tsunami was pulled to a halt.

'We're going to treat you just fine.' said one of the men 'So don't you worry your pretty little head.'  
Tsunami felt terribly cold suddenly. They were going to rape her. That much was clear. At best she'd be thrown in a cell and defiled. But once Gato had no more use for her would she really be released? No, she was going to die.

'Come on keep walking.' said the pale one.

And then Tsunami was standing on the opposite side of the bridge. And in her place was Naruto. The two samurai looked in shock. 'A substitution jutsu!'

'The woman! She's gone!'

'You got it!' said Naruto. 'Sorry I'm a little late. But you know, heroes usually show up at the last minute.

'Who the hell are you?' asked the samurai.

'Naruto it's you!' said Tsunami.

'Who else?' asked Naruto.

'But how did you know to come here?' asked Tsunami.

'In the forest I found a boar that had been attacked.' said Naruto 'And the trees were all cut up too, like someone had been practicing with a sword or something. I figured someone puny and cowardly like Gato would probably try to take a hostage so I headed back here.

Is Inari okay? They didn't hurt him did they?'

'No,' said Tsunami 'he's fine.'

'Bah, blah,' said the tan one 'it's one of those puny ninja brats Tazuna hired.'

'Get em.' said the pale one.

Both charged at Naruto, hands on their swords. Naruto hurled two shurikens only for them to be batted away. Yet as they fell the shurikens transformed into clones of Naruto and came from behind. Both dropkicked the men, sending them crashing to the ground to land hard.

'You did it.' said Tsunami.

'Yeah!' said Naruto 'Believe it!'

* * *

Sasuke and Haku dueled back and forth. Their weapons clashed again and again with neither able to overcome the other. Kakashi sensei was peering into the mist on guard. Sakura licked her dry lips and tried to control the shaking in her limbs.

Zabuza had nearly killed them. She hadn't had time to be scared, only to act. But now this nothingness was even worse. He could come out at any time. And she knew that Kakashi sensei knew it too. That was why he wasn't helping Sasuke.  
He needed to be nearby to save Sakura.

'Sakura,' said Kakashi 'protect Tazuna and stay close to me. Let Sasuke handle this.'

'I can help, sensei!' said Sakura.

'Do as I say.' said Kakashi 'Obey your orders.'

She was a milestone. She'd set out wanting to exceed Sasuke but she didn't have his inherant natural talent. Neither did she have Naruto's reserves of chakra. She had no bloodline, and no great skill. Just the ganjutsu which Kakashi had taught her.

Sasuke and Haku locked blades in a vicious clash. For a moment they were mask to face. 'We want the bridgebuilder. Not you.' said Haku 'If you back down we won't have to kill you.'

'Save it.' said Sasuke.

'You're making a mistake.' said Haku 'You won't be able to keep up with my speed. I've gained two key advantages.'

'Yeah,' said Sasuke 'what are they?'

'First,' said Haku 'we're surrounded by water. Second, one of your hands is blocking my blade. So you won't be able to defend yourself with it.' And then he began making hand signs with one hand. But that was impossible! 'Secret jutsu! A thousand needles of death!'

A mist of water arose into the air and formed into many needles of water. They shot down towards Sasuke. Yet Sasuke moved chakra to his feet and leaped into the air just in time to avoid the shots. Coming down toward Haku he made hand signs. Then he breathed a wave of fire at Haku.

Yet Haku rolled away just in time and the flames instead merely scorched the bridge black where they hit. The embers faded away beneath the mist. Yet even as Haku recovered Sasuke appeared behind him. 'You're not as fast as you think.' said Sasuke 'From this point on, you'll be the one defending against my-'

Haku stabbed him in the leg with a senbon while he was talking. Then he bashed Sasuke in the face while he was reeling. Followed by a roundhouse kick that threw him into the air. Amazingly Sasuke righted himself in mid air and landed on both feet, before removing the senbon. Blood was dripping from his lip.

'Idle boasting is not a productive use of ones' time in combat.' said Haku.

'I'll remember that.' said Sasuke.

Then he charged forward. He surprised Haku by hurling a kunai mid charge, forcing her to dodge and then as she ducked he brought around a leg to kick her in the face. Haku was thrown backwards through the air.

Then Kakashi moved past Sakura. She followed him to see why and saw Zabuza descending with his blade in hand. She hadn't even heard him.

Zabuza was struck through the heart by a kunai only to dissipate into water. There was silence and Sakura stepped back in fear. She stopped just short of a puddle.

A puddle.

She grabbed Tazuna and pulled him aside mere moments before Zabuza emerged to strike at her. She felt a horrible pain in her back as something scraped her shoulder and she turned to take a defensive position. To her relief Kakashi was coming at Zabuza and the man couldn't pursue him. Yet even as he faded into the mist Zabuza hurled two kunai at her. Sakura knocked aside a kunai meant for Tazuna, then one meant for her heart.

Then another hit her in the thigh. She heard herself scream as she saw Zabuza coming at her with his sword. A kunai passed through his throat, but the wound bled only water. He was still out there. Sakura tore a strip off of her dress, her expensive expensive dress, drew out the kunai and bandaged her leg with it.

Tazuna kneeled by her. 'Are you alright?'

'We have to get to the edge of the bridge.' said Sakura, forcing herself to stand. She nearly fell back to her knees from the agony. 'He'll only be able to attack us from the front then.'

Every step Sakura took was agony. The sound of clashing blades was somewhere. Blurs could be seen moving around them as they stumbled onward. Several more times Zabuza got near them, only to be warded off by Kakashi.

Then Sakura saw the corpses. Dozens of dozens of corpses. They were workmen. Workmen who manned the early shift. Sakura didn't know why she was surprise Zabuza had killed them. He wasn't a scenery chewing villain from a cartoon. Neither was he some kind of misunderstood loner. He was a professional murderer. He got up every day and went to kill people for a paycheck.

Why was she so surprised. She'd signed up to do that too?

Why had she even become a ninja in the first place? Was it just because Ino was going to the academy? That might have been it.

They reached the edge and she nearly fell off. Nearly collapsed. But Tazuna held her firmly. 'Don't try to move. You're in no shape to fight. I'll take care of myself.'

Sakura stared off the edge of the boat and then she saw something. It was a huge ship and it was packed with over a hundred men. They were all dressed for war, but their armor, if they had it, was ragged. At their head was a short man, with mousy brown hair wearing a business suit. Whoever he was he was standing apart from the rest.

'Gato…' gasped Tazuna. He got down. 'I never thought he'd come to do his own dirty work?'

'He hasn't.' said Sakura 'They haven't even tried to get up here. Why just sit here?'

'Boss,' said one of the men 'why are we waiting around here for? We came here to fight.'

'Quiet!' snapped Gato 'We aren't moving yet. We want our employees to be good and tired before we double cross them. The way I see it whoever wins this thing, one of them will be exhausted. Easy pickings.'

'That cutthroat son of a-' gasped Sakura 'He's planning to murder his own subordinates so he doesn't have to pay him.'

'Well I don't think I'd weep for Zabuza.' said Tazuna 'But shouldn't we do something about this?'

'What can we do?' asked Sakura 'I guess we could lure Zabuza over here. But he might kill us before he could find out.' Then she stopped. 'I have an idea.'

* * *

If things kept going like this, Haku and Zabuza would be the victims instead of Tazuna and his bodyguards. Haku sighed as she arose to face Sasuke. She had to get on with this. She began to channel her power as Sasuke stood there on guard.

'What's that?' asked Sasuke.

'I'm sorry it's come to this.' said Haku.

Haku hated using this power. It reminded her of times long past. Times of tragedy and loss. And of home, or what had once been her home. Summoning her jutsu she formed the crystals ice mirrors. The air became fridged cold as Sasuke was surrounding by the mirrors.

He was trapped.

'Secret jutsu:' said Haku 'Crystal ice mirrors.'

Then she phased into the mirrors. As of this moment she had already won. She'd killed jonin with the power of her mirrors. One prodigy from a village, however handsome, was no match for her. Haku descended she'd have some fun.

'Now, we'll begin.' said Haku. 'And I'll show you what speed really means.'

She began to throw senbon. Not at vital areas of course. It had been a long time since Haku had had the chance to really inflict pain on something. She could see his movements from every direction the ice mirrors faced. Which meant that every time one of her senbon raked his flesh she could see him reel in agony from a dozen different directions.

She wasn't going to kill him of course. Haku hated death and tried to avoid it. But he'd annoyed her enough that she was going to take her time knocking him out. His kunai fell from his hand as he tried to shield himself from the barrage.

He tried to shield himself in vain.

And then something impacted her mirrors from outside. Haku halted her play and turned to see a vast cloud of smoke arising in the fading mist. And out of that smoke emerged a familiar blonde kid.

'Naruto Uzumaki is here!' cried Naruto 'Believe it!'

When it rained it poured.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

This chapter took way too long to come out. I guess I was lacking in inspiration. Sometimes when I write something I feel like I'm trying to break through a brick wall, y'know. You just have to keep working at it though.


End file.
